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The Golden Kingdom 







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THE GOLDEN 
! KINGDOM 

Being an Account of the Quest for the 

SAME AS DESCRIBED IN THE REMARKABLE 

Narrative of Doctor Henry Mortimer, 

CONTAINED IN THE MANUSCRIPT FOUND 
WITHIN THE BOARDS OF A BOER BlBLE 
DURING THE LATE WAR, AND EDITED WITH 

a Prefatory Note 


Ji 

M 

ANDREW BALFOUR 

Author of “ To Arms ! ” etc. 


With Drawings by 

G . K . GREEN 





Boston ¥ 
Company 


L . C . Page & 
* MB C C C Cl 11 


)W| company v 


g +» 
ii.i 




THE LIBRARY OF 
CONGRESS, 


Two Copies Received 


JUN ? 1903 



CUSS ft- XXo. No. 

L C ii* 

COPY B. 


Copyright, 1903 

By L. C. Page & Company 

(incorporated) 

All rights reserved 


Published May, 1903 


i • 


< « 


Colonial ^russ 

Electrotyped and Printed by C. H. Simonds & Co. 
Boston, Mass., U. S. A. 








pfote on tfie binding 
of tfie Manuscript of 
iDoctor Jienry Mortimer 


IT was, if I remember rightly, on the 29th of February, 1901, 
that the regiment of mounted infantry to which I was attached 
as a Civil Surgeon paid a visit to the house of a certain Nikolaas 
Mortmeyer, a Boer farmer op the Carolina district of the 
Transvaal, on the borders of the high veldt. The owner was 
absent on commando, being a field-cornet who had achieved quite 
a local reputation for his “ slimness ” in outwitting and surprising 
isolated British detachments. The farm, which stood deserted, 
was ransacked in the search for rifles; but while the troopers 
were thus employed I turned my attention to the contents of the 
chief living-room , and discovered, in a cupboard, the customary 
family Bible. It proved to be a huge and weighty volume, bound 
in vellum, fastened with three massive and brazen clasps, and was 
evidently an heirloom of considerable antiquity. 

These Bibles of the Boers are always interesting, containing 
as they usually do a family tree upon the fly-leaf \ and a record 
of important events, written in faded ink and crabbed or straggling 
handwriting, with dates inserted which carry one back far into the 
past—often to the old days in the Colony when the Dutch lorded 
it at the Cape, as they would fain have done again. 

The fly-leaf was lacking in this book, and I turned the pages 
idly, finding them dirty and thumb-marked and stained with 
tobacco-juice. The leaves of the Book of the Revelation rustled 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER 

I. THE MAN IN THE SNOW . . 

II. CORKRAN THE COXSWAIN . 

III. THE EVIL EYE . 

IV. THE BAUBLE IN THE BEARD . 

V. A SON OF ANAK 

VI. THE SHOEING OF THE STALLION 

VII. A STATE OF SIEGE 

VIII. THE SONG OF THE SMITH 

IX. BOUND FOR BANTAM 

X. ABOARD THE Kittiwake . . . 

XI. THE RIVER OGOBO . 

XII. THE HAUNTED SLAVER . 

XIII. THE HAMMER OF THOR . 

XIV. A TRIPLE PERIL .... 

XV. AT LOGGERHEADS .... 

XVI. THE GREAT APES .... 

XVII. THE SKELETON AND THE SEA SCOURGE 
XVIII. WE MAKE THE LAND 


PAGE 

. I I 
, 22 

• 37 

• 5° 
. 64 
. 72 
. 84 

. 94 
. 106 

. 114 
. 126 

• 137 
. 146 

• *57 
. 167 

. 177 
. 191 


9 


203 





10 


Contents 


CHAPTER 

XIX. 

XX. 

XXI. 

XXII. 

XXIII. 

XXIV. 

XXV. 

XXVI. 

XXVII. 

XXVIII 

XXIX. 

XXX. 

XXXI. 

XXXII. 

XXXIII. 

XXXIV. 

XXXV. 


WHAT BEFELL ON ROBBEN ISLAND 
THE CHALLENGE .... 

THE PAPEGAAI .... 

THE YELLOW CATS 
TERRA DE NATAL. 

THE CROSS AND THE TALE . 

THE PAINTED CAVES AND THE POISON 
THE GREAT SWAMP 

ICHABOD. 

THE KING AND CIRA . 

THE SLAYING OF THE SIX 

FOR LIFE ITSELF .... 

THE RIVALS. 

WE FIGHT FOR THE KING 
THE KING’S DECREE 
THE TRIAL BY COMBAT . 

VAARWEL !. 


POTS 


PAGE 
. 217 

• 231 

. 244 

. 256 
. 270 
. 283 
. 298 
. 312 

• 325 

• 339 

• 354 
. 366 

• 376 
. 388 

. 400 
. 412 
. 420 




THE GOLDEN KINGDOM 


CHAPTER I 
THE MAN IN THE SNOW 

It was in very truth a vile night, the vilest of the winter, and 
that winter no green yule-tide. I was weary, and had been wet; 
all day in the saddle, my grey mare fetlock deep in slush and 
snow, and the saddle-bags, damp and soaking, swinging against 
my knees till my very joints were stiff. Weary, and a trifle out 
of spirits at the dull round of life, the prosaic duties of a village 
leech, the empty house which had greeted my return, and above 
all the thought that when others rested from their labours I was 
yet in harness. Mistress Pumphret, the squire’s lady, was taken 
with an ague and like to die, so that at any moment there might 
come a rat-a-tat at the oak, which would mean for me a weary 
trudge with lanthorn and lancet, and no cosy bed and sound 
slumber. 

“ A poor, drab, colourless life,” thought I, and yet God knows 
I did wrong to complain, however silently. Was I not in a well- 
padded chair, stretched, for the nonce, at my ease before the 
blazing logs, doors and windows fast, the hangings drawn, a 
steaming tankard of ale, spiced and mulled, at my elbow, a clay 
stem between my teeth, and, above all, my leather-bound friends 
to keep me company ? Nay, more, was I not young and strong, 
free from ache and pain, with no thought of woman, with no sick 
child, and so inured to wrestling with death and striving to ease 



12 


The Golden Kingdom 

pain that the woes of my few patients did not harass my resting 
hours? Beyond doubt I was a surly dog, surly and ill-con¬ 
ditioned, but—for there is ever a but—it was just because the 
life blood coursed strong and full in my veins, just because my 
brain was ever busy, and that I hankered after change as a lass 
after her lover, just because I was in some manner a fool, that 
I had become thus tinctured with the bile of melancholy. 

I placed the long churchwarden on the little table, sent a 
stream of blue smoke towards the low ceiling, and gat me to my 
books, taking that which came the handiest, and on which I had 
been busy on account of the squire’s lady, who was in the grip of 
the fell fen fever. It was a bulky tome in the Latin tongue, but 
with a prefix which set forth that the learned writing came from 
the brain and pen of Rhazes the Arabian. It had cost me a fair 
sum at Leyden in the days when, having finished my apprentice¬ 
ship, I had taken ship across seas and studied in the schools of 
Holland. Great times were these, with companions to my liking ; 
but now, beyond the vicar, a fat man and fifty, much wedded and 
needing my services each year with a monotonous regularity, I 
had not a kindred spirit in the parish—the broad, flat, inland 
parish of sluggish streams and sluggish men. 

The title, deep-stamped and gilded, caught my eye. The book 
was a treatise on the fevers and febriculse of swamps, marshes, 
and morasses, and the very words bore a dreary significance. 
Had I not ridden past such all day and every day, miserable 
stretches, with here and there the pollard oaks shooting long, 
bare branches upwards from their snow-capped boles, frozen 
wastes where boomed the bittern and over which hovered the 
starving hawk? There came the sough of wind in the wide 
chimney, and the patter of hail upon the window glass. I 
stared at my jack-boots, reeking and toasting on the hearth, 
shivered as though one were treading on my grave, and reached 
for the tankard. Ere ever it touched my lips, however, I paused, 
for a sound struck upon my ears—the sound of singing. No 
words could I hear as yet, merely a burden of song welling up 
in the darkness without, but full of a weird merriment. “ Mercy 
on us! ” quoth I; “ what strange wight is this who traverses the 


The Man in the Snow 


J 3 

village street on such a night and in such a mood ? ” I placed 
the tankard beside the pipe and hearkened diligently. It was a 
man’s voice, full and rich, yet with every now and then a 
hiccoughing catch in the notes which but intensified the pureness 
and volume of such as sounded true. I had heard singing at 
many a verbindung and merry gathering of roystering students, 
but never so queer a mixture of rollicking mirth, of fearsome 
eerieness, and yet through it all there ran the plaintive whine of 
the ballad-monger. The voice was for the most part magnificent, 
the air itself had something unholy about it, but it was not till 
I heard the words of a verse that I sprang from my chair and 
the hair bristled on my head. 

There is no doubt I was tired and overwrought, for, after all, 
there was nought so very terrible about them, yet hearing them 
for the first time as I did, miles from the sea, on a wild night, 
in a still and lonely village street, they set my nerves quivering 
like the strings of a harp struck by strong fingers. 

A blatter of frozen snow dashed on the panes, drowning the 
sense of the song which was taking shape and meaning, and 
then as the storm lulled a moment, the voice swelled out close 
at hand, beginning with a jerk and crack as though forced from 
a harsh windpipe by some rack and handle, and then swinging 
into time and measure, powerful, mellow, and deep-throated: 

Sing hey ! for the grin on the dead man’s face, 

For the slicing knife and the lean carcase, 

For the bird with the beak and the last man left, 

For the stranded boat and the shark bereft. 

Yo, ho, ho ! 

Let the dead men go 
To Davy Jones, who waits below. 

Before the last line was at an end I had dragged the hangings 
aside, undone the shutters which were fitted on the inner side of 
the window, and was gazing out into the darkness. A gleam of 
candlelight shot past me and made a chequered pattern of the 
lozenged panes on the stretch of white which mantled the erst¬ 
while muddy street. All else was black as ink, but as I gazed 


14 The Golden Kingdom 

the bent figure of a man came stealing into the yellow triangle, 
and a sing-song voice besought me for succour. 

“ An alms, for the love o’ Christ, and of your charity! ” cried 
the man in the snow. 

Heaven knows I was for shutting out all sight and sound of 
him, being chilled to the marrow by the horror of his lay; but as 
I hesitated he came straight towards the window at a shuffling 
run and pressed his face close up against it, raising both arms, 
and clawing at the casement as though he would force an entrance 
in spite of me. Men say we surgeons grow callous, that we 
become hardened to the sight of suffering, and that our bowels 
of compassion are dried up, save in so far as we are forced to 
make pretence for the sake of filthy lucre. 

In some measure it may be so, but what sent me to the door 
that night to usher in so undesired a guest was the look of wolfish 
hunger in the man’s eyes as his lean face stared into mine. 

Had I not turned the key and shot back the bolt that look 
would have haunted me till my dying day, though for that matter 
I had been spared the strangest of strange adventurings and the 
writing of these remembrances, which none may ever scan. If 
such be not their fate, let the reader judge whether or no he would 
have had me set the door open with hands which trembled, 
though not with haste, the while I half feared to meet the 
creature who, in the dead of night, with footfall muffled by the 
snow, and in the most astonishing of voices, was seeking his sus¬ 
tenance by a wild song of the sea from an inland folk who 
slumbered. 

The chill air smote me as I set my head without the porch, 
where in the summer roses climbed and clustered, an angry gust 
quenched the flame of the candle I had carried with me, and then 
something slid softly past my elbow, and as I turned I saw a man’s 
figure vanish within my own door, which was immediately closed 
and locked and bolted. 

So sudden and startling was the change, that I stood stock still 
in astonishment. 

A moment before I had been about to play the host, the good 
Samaritan, and now by all that was unchancy I was standing in 


The Man in the Snow 


15 


my own porch in small shoes and bare-headed on the dirtiest 
night of the year, and my own door had been shut in my face. 
The tables were turned with a vengeance. The ballad-monger 
was tenant of the cottage, and I, its rightful occupier for five lean 
seasons, was cooling perceptibly without it. Cooling in body, but 
in a mental fume at the scurviness of the trick. “ Malediction 
on the rogue ! ” I muttered ; and again, “ Confound the rascal! ” 
The odds were so plainly with him. There was a door at the 
back, but it was barred, and old Dame Pottinger, who cooked 
and cleaned for me, slept elsewhere, coming in the morning and 
going at night. There was no one else in the house but this 
mysterious villain, in whose eyes burned the light of hunger. The 
windows I had myself fastened from within ; there was no feasible 
access from the roof; I could not descend a chimney. By all 
the fiends ! what was I to do ? I did the last thing that was to 
be expected—I burst into a shout of laughter not wholly mirthful, 
It was promptly answered from within the door. 

“ Hee, hee ! ” came a rasping chuckle, and again “ Hee, hee! ” 
and then the curious, creaking throat-jerk which I knew heralded 
a song, followed by another verse of the infernal ditty, sung this 
time with an air of unmistakable triumph : 

Sing hey ! for the lad on the lonely isle, 

For the signal flag and the firing pile, 

For the knife-notched stick and the sail at last. 

For the lass at home and the perils past. 

Yo, ho, ho I 
Let the mariner go, 

For it’s Jack that can tell what the sea doth show. 

Yo, ho, ho 1 

Let the merry man go, 

Fuddled above and primed below. 

At the outset the melody was close and clear, but towards the 
end it grew fainter as though receding, and I knew the man had 
left the passage and was making for my well-warmed room. A 
second later he was within it, and as the verse concluded, I 
judged he was somewhere near the hearth, the table, and, a 
plague on his impudence ! my nightcap of sound old ale. In 


16 The Golden Kingdom 

a twinkling I had run to the window, the snow soaking to my 
feet, the bitter blast making my ears tingle and searching to 
my very vitals, for I had no cloak or cover-coat. It was now my 
turn to thrust my face to the glass, to feel the hail strike on the 
nape of my neck, to experience it melting on my hair and trickling 
down between the neck-band of my shirt and my creeping skin. 
There was my own chamber plain before my eyes, though 
somewhat gloomy, save near the fireplace. 

One candle I had taken with me, the other scarce served to 
dispel the shadows; but, aided by the ruddy glow from the 
faggots, it was sufficient to show me quite enough for my pur¬ 
poses. A bare-headed man stood with his back to the fire, to 
my fire !—and such a man. His hair, of which I could not 
discern the colour, was a tousled mass like a ship’s mop; the 
side of his face on which the light fell was of the leanest; his 
nose long and high; his cheek hollow, as though sucked in by 
his breath; his chin sharp and protruding; his mouth, a slit; 
and the hue of the whole skin something between a rich copper 
and the whitey-brown of a rotten apple. From beneath his chin 
a beard depended, a straight straggle of grey hair like that of a 
billy-goat, and there was something set in it which glittered in the 
candlelight. 

For the nonce I paid no attention to the fellow’s clothes. I 
was wholly absorbed with the half of his visage which was visible, 
and the grin which sat upon it. For the man was grinning, 
gloating over the prospect before him; and as I watched he 
stretched out an arm of surprising length, as I noticed even then, 
and seizing the tankard, hove it upwards to his mouth, tilted it 
towards the ceiling, and quaffed its contents at one huge gulp. 
Replacing the plain metal mug, he passed the back of one hand 
across his lips, and, as I am a truthful mortal, picked up the pipe 
—my pipe!—and hastily sniffing at the bowl commenced to pull 
at the stem with the utmost satisfaction, continuing the smoke 
where I had relinquished it, for the weed was still alight and 
glowing. This was too much, however, and I tapped loudly on 
the glass with my knuckles, and called out with a fine effort 
at sarcasm: 


The Man in the Snow 


l 7 

“Your pardon, my good sir, but you will find a fresh pipe 
in the cupboard, and a fresh fill in the jar shaped like a negro’s 
head upon the mantelshelf.” 

His answer came readily enough. 

“ Ay, ay, my master, and is that so ? Well, this is good enough, 
I trow, for a poor devil who has not whiffed for a week; only the 
stem is a trifle unhandy, and my stumps do not fit the grooves of 
your sharp ivories, so here goes ! ” 

With that, and all this time he had continued to look straight 
in front of him—with that, I say, he snapped the pipe stem some 
two inches from the bowl, stuck the stump into his slit of a mouth, 
and fell a-puffing once more with great good humour. 

For a moment a surge of anger swept through me, and I was 
for smashing glass and frame, and bundling through and making 
for his scraggy throat. Somehow I knew it to be scraggy, though 
his coat collar was turned up and hid it. The mood passed as 
quickly as it came—my sense of humour saved me, for in all this 
there was something ridiculous in the extreme. The smug look, 
the broken pipe, the empty mug, myself disconsolate, the villain 
triumphant—it was inimitable 1 Furthermore, I had it in my 
heart to love this rascal, despite his confounded familiarity. We 
had not a thorough blackguard in the whole parish, nothing but 
drab respectability, with a most genteel church-going and an 
insufferable dulness over all. Clods ! clods like the earth they 
hoed and ploughed, good honest fellows full of beef and ale, and 
garbed in homespun and rig and furrow hosen, but not a rogue 
amongst them. And the women ! Well, I had no eye for them, 
though now and then, as I knew, one was weak, as is the way 
with maids. I scarce blamed such, so great the monotony of 
their colourless lives, and God knows they were not evil nor the 
lads real miscreants, though at times sots and selfish. To be 
sure, the squire drank like a fish and looked like it; but, Lord 
love you! he was nothing but a pesky bore with his eternal 
vapourings anent his great stallion, and how to feed cattle, 
and how his old dame fared. No, we had not a thorough- 
paced scoundrel in all Bishop-Solingford except—and of this 
I was very certain—the man with the mahogany face and the 


18 The Golden Kingdom 

glittering speck in his beard who was making so free with my 
belongings. 

My rage vanished and again I laughed—laughed till I shook 
and the tears came to my eyes, and the more I laughed the less 
could I stop laughing. What added to my merriment was to see 
this sailor man (for by this time I had taken in the cut of his coat 
and the sheen of his buttons) pick up the learned tome. “ Here 
is something he will scarce digest so well as my nut-brown,” 
thought I, and then became wholly afraid for the first time since 
I had clapped eyes on his face, for I perceived that the pipe had 
gone out and that he was seeking the wherewithal to light it. 

The one thing on earth that I loved was my stock of vellum 
and of leather and of manuscript, and to see this fellow about to 
tear out a page, and that not the fly-leaf nor the blank at the end, 
was more than I could stand. I raised my elbow to drive it 
through a lozenge, and then I paused irresolute, even as the man 
had paused. He was no longer holding the book carelessly and 
at a distance, but was peering at it intently, turning it so that the 
candle should illumine the type, and to all appearance reading it 
with understanding. Here was a new marvel, that this rough 
rip, this shell-back, this old man of the ocean could master an 
ancient and foreign tongue, could find an interest in a treatise as 
ponderous as the volume which contained it! 

He turned the leaves quickly, the pipe fell from his mouth, his 
lips worked, his forefinger traced the lines. It was plain he was 
familiar with the Latin, and equally plain that he had no great 
acquaintance with books, and followed the sense with difficulty. 

Suddenly he sought the title-page, whereon, as I remembered, 
my name was written, along with the date and place where I had 
acquired the tome, and—for I was careful in money matters—the 
price I had paid for it. He scanned it all, and then laid the book 
on the table almost reverently. 

“ If you have done,” I shouted, “ I would be glad to join you 
at the fire,” for of a verity the cold was becoming unbearable. 

For the first time he turned his full face in my direction, and I 
saw he lacked an ear on one side, and had a livid scar running 
from his outer eye angle to where his auricle should have been. 


The Man in the Snow 


l 9 

The grin was gone; he was sombre in aspect and somewhat fierce 
in expression. 

“ Fair and softly, Doctor Henry Mortimer,” said he, “ fair 
and softly, my young master; there is to be somewhat of a 
bargain between us ere ever you melt the snow from between 
your toes.” 

He came towards the window as he spoke, and so long were 
his arms that, as they hung by his sides, his finger tips reached 
well below his knees. His manner of speech surprised me. I 
had expected his converse to be as rough as his outer man, but 
such was not the case. His voice was harsh indeed, as though 
sea salt had got into his weasand and formed a crust upon its 
walls; but his manner of speaking was what is common amongst 
gentlemen, although he had to talk loudly for me to hear him. 

“A bargain!” I cried; “it will be sufficient if we call quits, 
I fancy. You have amused me hugely, but-” 

“There it is,” said he; “you have hit upon it, Doctor Henry. 
I like your spirit, else you might have shivered out there till 
cockcrow for all I cared.” 

“ Gad, sir ! ” said I, “you take things coolly; let me tell you 
that if I wished I could precious quickly have a pack of decent 
men hustling you to a pretty tune.” 

“ Ho, ho ! ” he cried, “ so you think so, do you ? Well, I have 
heard the like before. Hustling, say you; but to hustle one must 
be fairly near, and what think you of these barkers, Doctor Henry ? ” 

He threw open his coat, and as I live, his naked skin con¬ 
fronted me; no undervest, no shirt, no singlet, nothing but a 
narrow sash of red above his baggy breeches, and the butts of 
two pistols sticking upwards from its folds. 

“Man!” I cried, “you must have been perished with the 
cold I ” 

His face softened perceptibly, and he grinned again. 

“You may say so,” he shouted, “and yet I have stood worse 
ere my beard was this colour,” and he plucked at his straggle of 
grey hairs, and fingered the little ornament set therein. 

“ And the bargain ? ” said I. 

“ To be sure, the bargain,” he rejoined. “ Stap me ! but you 



20 The Golden Kingdom 

are a good lad, and I have half a mind to waive the privilege of 
my position.” 

“ I would willingly waive mine,” I answered. 

“ So I should suppose; but all I ask is what one Christian 
should give another, a night’s lodging, food,” and here his voice 
grew eager, “ food, and a trifle in the way of underclothes.” 

“And for this,” I cried, “you have put me to inconvenience?” 

“Believe me, I regret it,” he answered; “but it is better to 
dictate than to beg. God knows ! ” he growled with a sudden 
burst of fury, “ I have begged enough from these labouring swine. 
Had I known you were what you are my conduct had been more 
civil, but I was famishing, famishing in Merry England, Merry 
England! ” and he threw back his head and laughed bitterly. 
Then he motioned me towards the porch, and a moment later 
I again faced him, but with nothing between us. 

“ Lead the way, sir,” said he, and, determined to show no sign 
of fear, I slipped past him and entered my own room, still 
clutching the unlighted candle, and with my feet sopping wet. 
He followed me in and shut the door, affording me an excellent 
opportunity to seize him by the nape of the neck had I so wished. 
Instead, I made for the fire and threw myself into my chair. 

He came and stood again with his back to the logs, and I 
surveyed him to better advantage. The man was a scarecrow. 
His hair was coarse and of a reddish tint, his coat a dingy blue, 
frayed at the cuffs, and with the tails cut off. His breeches, of 
some sad yellow colour, were very wide, patched in a dozen 
places, and fastened below the knees with faded ribbons of puce, 
which formed a knot of ends and tags where they were tied. The 
skin of his lean shanks peeped through his stockings, which had 
once been green, and his miserable shoes were void of buckles 
and worn away at the heels. Such a tatterdemalion I had never 
seen, but the man looked hardy. He was of great breadth, too 
broad for his height, and his chest was both deep and long. His 
legs, though thin, were bowed in a way I have often noticed 
makes for strength in certain frames. Still, looking at him 
critically, I felt convinced I could master him in a fair tussle, for 
I was no chicken, and not yet over thirty, while this sea dog was 


The Man in the Snow 


21 


a man who would never see fifty winters. The thought put 
another idea in my head. 

“Your bargain, captain,” said I, giving him the first title that 
came into my mind, “ was a little weak in one particular.” 

“ Indeed,” he answered with a droll smile, “ and that is ? ” 

“You did not stipulate as to your own safety.” 

“ Why, no, doctor,” he said in a strangely dreamy voice, “ why, 
no; you see ”—he stopped and seemed confused—“ you see,” he 
went on, “ I have been accustomed to look,” he spoke with diffi¬ 
culty, “ to look after myself,” and having so said his eyes grew 
fixed and lost all expression, he tilted on to his toes, and before 
I could catch him pitched forward upon the floor, narrowly 
missing the table-edge with his forehead as he fell. 


CHAPTER II 
CORKRAN THE COXSWAIN 

As I have hinted, I sprang to his aid, but was too late to prevent 
him thudding on a dog-skin which covered the floor boards close 
to where he had been standing. What had foiled me in the 
effort was the suddenness of his collapse, but what kept me from 
at once kneeling beside him and feeling for his heart-beat was 
a very horrible thing which happened as he struck the planking 
and the mat—his whole head of hair fell away from his skull! 
That alone would have been nothing. It was plain to me at once 
that the reddish mop was but a counterfeit, a remarkably well- 
made wig, but what kept me rigid and motionless was the astound¬ 
ing fact, believe it or not as you will, that the man had no scalp! 
It was in very truth his skull with which the hairy mass had 
parted company. Still, the bones were covered, shrouded by the 
remnants of the integuments, which were like a tightly-stretched 
piece of dark and mottled parchment. Upon the skin were little 
eminences, for what had been the veins and other vessels were 
now dried and bunched and withered into fibrous cords, for all 
the world like the castings of sea-worms upon smooth sea sand. 
I had become accustomed to many gruesome scenes, but I con¬ 
fess the sight of that head shocked me, coming as it did after the 
remarkable episodes of a remarkable half-hour. 

I recovered quickly, and was moved to pity and admiration at 
one and the same time. If the man had looked shabby from the 
front, he looked even shabbier now that he lay prone, and the 
wretched attempts to preserve decency, ay, and cohesion, in his 


22 


Corkran the Coxswain 


2 3 

nether garments were disclosed in full. It was clear to me why 
his coat tails had vanished—they had gone to the patching of 
his breeches. His plight stirred me to compassion, but the bold 
front he put upon his misery, the cavaliering way he had usurped 
my hearthstone, the reckless courage of the man who had borne 
himself like a swaggering bravo when he must have felt this 
fainting fit, if, indeed, it was not death itself, stealing upon him, 
excited my admiration. Yet only for a moment. I thought 
upon the empty tankard, I remembered that his eyes had 
glittered like the bauble in his beard, and then it seemed very 
plain to me that much of his bravado was due to my strong, hot 
ale swilled upon an empty stomach. Still, to give him due credit, 
his performances had begun with the swigging of my drink and 
the smoking of my pipe, both singularly impertinent actions, and 
curiously enough, very far removed from the gentlemanly behaviour 
he had exhibited when, to my mind, under the influence of liquor. 

However that might be, there he lay, and it was my duty as a 
man, to say nothing of my leechship, to see what could be done 
for him. 

I knelt by his side, but did not turn him upon his back, for if 
his heart still beat, its tapping between his ribs was best discovered 
in his present position. I therefore thrust my hand beneath him, 
slid it within the flaps of his coat, and applied my palm to the 
prsecordia. For a moment I felt no impact, and was for looking 
at his pupils and getting a glass to his lips, but presently there 
came a fluttering under my fingers, and I found the apex beat in 
a rib interspace. I tested his pulse, and it was present, though 
very feeble. The vital spark was not yet quenched, the man was 
merely in a swoon. 

I had the curiosity to examine his head hurriedly. A knife, 
swept neatly from occiput to occiput, had no doubt severed the 
ghastly trophy ; indeed, a few grey hairs adhered to what was left 
and told me his beard was not, like his top thatch, a counterfeit. 
Rising, I crossed hastily to my cupboard and poured out a tass 
of brandy, and into it I dropped a few minims of the strong 
I )utch tincture of asafcetida, the which I opine has a smell suffi¬ 
cient to bring back most folk from the confines of the grave. I 


24 The Golden Kingdom 

got him on his back, supported him, and had infinite difficulty in 
forcing the dose down his gullet, but with patience I succeeded. 
The effect was not slow in making itself felt. Then—and I recall 
this with some pleasure—I had the delicacy to replace his wig, 
which made an extraordinary difference to his visage. The man 
coughed and spluttered as the last drops trickled over his tongue, 
his eyelids flickered, and he heaved a sigh which was half a groan. 
I pressed upon the ridge above his eye, close to the root of his 
nose, and the stimulus did good. He raised his arm as if to 
defend himself. 

“ Come, captain ! ” I cried, rejoiced to find my efforts meeting 
with response, “ an old tarpaulin like you is not going to slip his 
cable this fashion. Yo, ho, ho ! ” I shouted, remembering the 
burden of his song. 

“ Yo, ho, ho! ” he answered dreamily. “ Dowse the light; 
dowse the light! ” 

It was clear his senses were returning—he could both speak 
and see. 

“There’s a man!” said I, shaking him; “there’s a jolly Rodger! 
Rouse up, skipper ; it’s eight bells.” 

I had not the most vague idea what such nonsense meant, but 
it seemed pat and fitting for the occasion. 

“Tumble up ! ” he grunted; “ tumble up!” and then suddenly, 
“ Pipe, ye devil; ye swab of a sea-cook, pipe all hands, all hands!” 

The last words came in a sing-song drawl, as though he were 
chanting an anthem. Beyond all manner of doubt, he was the 
most interesting patient I had yet encountered. 

“ Humph ! ” thought I, “ had I a few more of this kind in place 
of fluxes, rheums, and apoplexies, I would rest content,” and 
again I called upon him. 

This time he sat bolt upright, and began staring about him. 

“You’re safe, captain,” said I; “ come to moorings.” 

“ Moorings ! ” quoth he, still in a dazed way; “ no moorings for 
me this side of hell port with the flukes grappling a gridiron. 

Yo, ho, ho! 

Let the old hulk go, 

Barnacles up and bows below.* 


Corkran the Coxswain 


25 

He was singing again in a silly, drunken fashion, and I perceived 
there was yet more of this sea-ditty of his. 

“ Avast! ” I cried, my last word of sea-lore in those days, and 
he looked up at me and winked most cunningly with one of his 
black eyes. I laughed outright, so curious was his expression. 

“Hee, hee!” said he, bent on mimicry, and started hiccoughing 
till I thought he would choke. He was either boozy as an owl, or 
maudlin from sheer weakness. 

“ Can you eat, think you ? ” I asked him. 

“ Eat ? ” said he, and again the wolfish look came into his eyes. 
“ ’Tis so long since I tried that I cannot tell,” and presently a 
big salt tear gathered on each underlid and went coursing down 
into the wan hollows of his cheeks. God knows ! I had a most 
unwonted dampness in my own eyes at the sight. 

I propped him up with his back against a chair, and went in 
search of provender. There was need of care, for let a famished 
man gorge and ’tis his last meal. I bethought me of the solar 
plexus of this ancient mariner, and what the effects of pressure 
thereupon would be; consequently I merely made him a panada 
of broken bread soaked in hot water, and with a modicum of the 
brandy sprinkled over it. Then I set to work and fed him with a 
spoon. He was eager—keen as a young pigeon for its mother’s 
beak, as a babe for the breast, and I had a great ado to check his 
voracity. At first he swallowed with difficulty, but by degrees he 
gained power and control, and his relish was a thing worth wit¬ 
nessing. A thought struck me. I would get him a raw egg, than 
which there is nothing more sustaining and easy of digestion. I 
placed the pap upon the table and again sought the cupboard. 
When I turned, egg in hand, there was my patient crawling 
towards the food. He saw me, and stopped shamefaced ; then 
he grunted sullenly and went back to his chair. For all that I 
gave him the egg, and it revived him mightily. 

“ Shiver me ! ” said he, when he had done swallowing, and his 
speech now was that of the man he looked. “Where am I, 
master ? ” 

“You are safe,” I answered; “no more snow for you this 
night.” 


26 


The Golden Kingdom 


“ Snow: * said he. “ Ay, ay, I do remember ; curse it! ” and he 

spat into the fire. 

“ Dost recollect singing without the window ? ” I asked. 

“ Surely, now." 

“ And the trick you played me ? " 

u Trick; stap me ! What trick ? No, no, my cock ; I went 
asleep in the snow, curse it!" 

u If you had," said I, “it would have been your last.” 

“ Very like, young master, and a good riddance.” 

“ Do you tell me,” said I, “ that you do not remember swagger¬ 
ing in here, and pouching my ale, and making free with my weed ? ” 

“ My eye ! ” he exclaimed, “ and what’s the damage? Out with 
it, and if doubloons will pay it, I’m your man. * Corkran,’ said 
the skipper to me, ‘ pay your way, Corkran,’ said he, * whatever 
tack you’re on; pay it in money or pay it in blood, but pay it, 
Corkran,’ said he to rne, ‘ and be hanged to ye 1’ ” 

He chuckled at this precious sentiment till he hiccoughed again. 
Ax for me I was amazed. The gentleman in him was gone; once 
more he was the coarse sea-dog, who had snapped my pipe-stem 
and ruffled it like a pirate. For all that I could see he was 
worried, was annoyed at finding he had said and done things 
of which he had no recollection. I could fancy him wondering 
what secret he had let drop, what I knew regarding him ; and yet 
all I did know was that he had seen better days, had no scalp, 
wore no shirt next his skin, and that his coat tails formed the seat 
of his breeches. 

“Well, Captain Corkran,” said I, paying no attention to his 
quaint offers to refiind rne, “ have you your sea-legs again, 
think you ? ” 

“Stow it, you lubber 1” was his reply. “ You would talk like a 
■•,alt, and yet you can’t even sniff it in these parts. What do you 
know about the sea arid ships, and sea legs and lubber holes, and 
the green heave and the scuppers awash ?- what do you know, tell 
me that ? ” 

As he spoke he clambered up on his feet by the aid of the 
chair handle, hut he swayed when erect, and was Inin to sink buck 
upon the padding. 


Corkran the Coxswain 


2 7 


“ I be hopelessly weak,” he said faintly. 

“ Here ! ” said I, no whit out of humour at his crustiness, and 
I gave him more of the bread and brandy pap. 

“ You’re a straight one,” he growled; “ no shark or crimp about 
you, and all for a poor sailor man. Gad ! what was the whine ? 
‘ An alms for the love o’ Christ and of your charity/ 

“Tut, man ! ” said I, “ was I to see you starve ?” 

“ Ecod ! your precious mates in this village would have let the 
ravens pick me clean or ever they shifted in their bunks, and yet 
methinks my song may have tickled them. Picture,” said he, 
“ down the lum comes the wind and my chantey with it; and do 
you see them shivering at the words ? It’s the devil, say they, and 
drag the sheets up, and yet do not shiver like the devil with a rag 
on his back and half his coat in his breeches. Yo, ho, ho, sing I, 
and oh ! oh ! oh! sing they, and the bairns run to their mother, 
and all because of Corkran the Coxswain.” 

“ Corkran the Coxswain,” I repeated. 

“Ay; or, if you like,” he said with a sudden petulance, speaking 
as he had done at the first, “Corkran the captain, or the cabin 
boy, or the canting chaplain. Body o’ me ! but they were for 
making me a chaplain once, a chaplain, no less ! ” 

He staggered up and made me a bow, then sat back, curled 
himself up, and presently went to sleep. 

It had wanted, perchance, an hour of midnight when this strange 
being who now dozed in my chair had startled me with his song- 
I took the watch, which had been my father’s, from my fob, and 
made out the time to be close on twelve, nigh the eeriest part of 
the night, and here was I sitting opposite my latest patient and 
the candle guttering in the socket. I relit the other, and fell to 
conning over the events of the past hour, the while I scanned the 
huddled form before me. 

Several things were, to me, inexplicable: the strength of the 
man’s singing when out of doors, his changes in demeanour, 
though there I had a clue, his speedy recovery, and the ease with 
which he had composed himself to rest, for all the world like 
an infant. 

I had yet to learn the ups and downs of an ocean life, to 


28 


The Golden Kingdom 


understand that a man worn out, who has oft pricked for the 
softest plank, snoozes when and how he may, and, more, I 
was to appreciate to the full the grim courage and grit of this 
mangled piece of flotsam. 

Meanwhile I watched him, noted his heavy breathing, placed a 
log very gently on its charred fellows so as not to rouse him, and 
was, I think, a little touched by his confidence in myself. For 
all he knew I might have him up before Squire Pumphret as a 
vagabond, have him clapped in the stocks, and, after having 
fed him with a raw but fresh-laid egg, have him pelted by rustics 
with eggs, raw indeed, but of a disgusting rottenness, and to 
which, as regards smell, the odour of the drug I had given him 
was as the scent of new-mown hay. 

I sat and stared at him, I say, and clean forgot all about my 
damp and chilly feet till there came a loud knocking on the outer 
door and the voice of a man calling, “ Doctor Mortimer, Doctor 
Mortimer ! ” 

It was like the fool, for I knew the squire’s voice at once, and 
here he was hammering on the oak and bawling my name while 
the least grain of sense would have set him tapping quietly at the 
lighted window. 

I rose with a rueful countenance, I fear, and for the second 
time let in the night air, but not before I had drawn the hangings 
at the casement and made up my mind that the squire was not to 
enter and see what company I kept. It was enough to ruin me 
in the parish were I discovered with such a mass of rags at such 
an hour. 

The squire was deep in liquor. He loved his wife, and his 
method of killing his grief at her illness was to soss and sip till he 
was fuddled, and his brain, such as it was, blunted. As ever, he 
was impatient, had trudged all the way himself, and, being partly 
sobered, was in a very vile temper. 

His greeting was curt, and he upbraided me for not having 
spent the night with him. 

“ I told you,” said he, “ that my wife would grow worse, but 
you must have your own way and bring me through all this filth 
to fetch you.” 


Corkran the Coxswain 


29 

It was in vain I told him there were others who had need of 
my services, that I had not reached home till ten of the clock, 
that no purpose would have been served by my remaining. He 
lost his manners, and called me a lazy hound. 

“ Look you, sir,” said I, “ were it not that your wife is my 
patient and that you are drunk, I would be hanged sooner than 
go a step with you.” 

“ Is that your tune ? ” he cried. “ Let me tell you, young man, 
I have a nephew of your profession who will quickly make short 
work of you and your airs.” 

“Then fetch him ! ” said I, and made as though to shut the door 
in his face. 

That scared him, as I knew it would, for his precious nephew 
of whom I had heard overmuch for my liking, was away in 
London, and had indeed just obtained his letters, being a stripling 
who knew no more than he had learned from books and prosy 
teachers. The squire therefore ate humble pie, and eventually I 
got me into my cloak and boots and set out with him, though he 
was in high dudgeon,—chiefly, I think, because I left him to kick 
his heels in the porch and did not offer him a hot drink. 

I had many qualms about leaving Corkran in possession, but I 
trusted that my absence would be brief and that he would sleep 
soundly till my return. Consequently I clapped the extinguisher 
on both candles, but locked the outer door and took the key with 
me, somewhat to old Pumphret’s surprise, for such was not my 
usual habit, and to him there would appear little chance of any 
strolling tramp being abroad on such a night. The cold and 
dreary trudge to the Hall put me once more into an ill-humour 
with life, but, as ever, I settled to my work when I was at my 
patient’s bedside. The squire’s wife was worse, much worse.* 
Frankly, I did not know what was the matter with her, but some¬ 
thing more than any ague of the fens had supervened. Her 
malady was acute, her symptoms would have been alarming even 
to the untrained eye. 

“When in doubt, bleed,” I hold to be an excellent maxim, 
and consequently acted upon it, but in vain. Her breathlessness 
increased, her lips became blue, her breathing of extreme rapidity. 


3 ° 


The Golden Kingdom 

Having bled, I cupped her; having cupped her, I applied a 
cataplasm of mustard, and many other things I tried, which there 
is no need to recount. In short, I did my best, and what more 
can a man, even a physician, do? The good dame’s days were 
numbered, and presently all was over, with the big squire 
blubbering like a babe and myself much distressed. I did my 
best to console him, but he was exceedingly ungracious, and 
eventually took to the bottle, paying me in my own coin by never 
pressing a glass on me, and half hinting that my carelessness had 
brought about his wife’s death. So it too often is with men of my 
profession—more kicks than thanks, more rebuffs than remittances, 
though it is true that when there is gratitude it is not stinted. 

The winter’s day was in process of birth as I quitted the spot 
where death had vanquished me and my patient, as he must 
vanquish all one day or other, however his sting may be felt. 
Very dreary was the landscape, the trees bare and ghostly, the 
vast level plain white and silent, the sky murky and streaked by 
lines of cold light in the east. 

I had seen such mornings after other births, ay, and after other 
deaths; for it is as night changes to day, in the still small hours, 
that most souls pass to meet their Maker. Never had I faced the 
scene so disconsolately; for when all was said and done it meant 
a great deal to have the squire’s favour, and I had lost a good 
patient, and, therefore, a good friend. 

So absorbed was I in my gloomy thoughts that I forgot my old 
man of the seas till I came within sight of my own snug cottage. 
Then I recalled him fast enough, for the room was lighted. I 
entered hastily, tapping the snow crusts from my soles, and 
wondering what the next move of my remarkable visitor would 
be. A glance showed me he was awake, very much awake 
indeed, and very much at home. While locking the door, I had 
neglected to lock the cupboard in which, as ill-luck would have 
it, there had been stored a square stone jar of strong waters. It 
was easy to see where these latter were now stored. Corkran had 
heaped on logs till the flames leaped and roared up the chimney, 
and he was seated straight before the blaze, his heels upon the 
mantelshelf, his body roasting, and a tall glass convenient at his 


Corkran the Coxswain 31 

elbow. It was plain that he was warming himself most effectually, 
both inside and out. He apparently did not hear me enter, and 
I grew savage at the sight of him. Just as he raised the glass, 
I came behind him softly and dragged the chair towards me. 
Down clattered his heels on the hearth, but he saved himself a 
fall by clutching at the chair arms, though in doing so he let go 
the glass, and spilt its contents all over his nether garments. 

Next moment he was on his feet, and the next I looked straight 
into the bell-mouth of a pistol! But I was not to be daunted—I 
had dealt with drunken men before. Humour them or bully 
them ; there are no other methods of managing fuddled and 
heated brains. In this case I took the latter course. I stepped 
back quickly, keeping my eyes on his, and then suddenly I kicked 
upwards, catching the pistol full with my heavy boot upon its 
barrel, and sending the weapon flying from his grasp. It struck 
the wall and fell upon the floor, but did not explode; yet it had 
scarcely left his hand when I was at close quarters, though I did 
not offer to molest him. He glared at me a moment, and then 
threw back his head and laughed. 

“ By old Daddy Neptune ! ” said he, “ but that is a trick worth 
knowing; clever, oh, cursedly clever, and yet a waste of energy, 
Doctor Harry! Observe, the barker does not bark. The 
assumption, therefore, is ? ” 

He was actually questioning me, and once more had all the 
demeanour of a gentleman, from which I gathered he was 
exceeding drunk. 

“ It was not loaded, you say, at least your face says so—a 
person of discernment, a doctor excellent at the diagnosis; and 
the prognosis, sir; what of the prognosis ? ” 

He cocked his head to one side like a pert bird. 

“ The terrors for you, sir,” I answered, “ unless you- 

“ The terrors ! Good Lord! But there is a jest, a rum 
puncheon with the terrors ! Split me! and thou art not a 
quack, Doctor Harry ? The terrors! but you did not flinch at 
the empty barrel. Let’s see what you say to this ! ” With that, 
before I had the least inkling of his design, he whipped off his 
wig and displayed hi's scalpless head. Had I not seen it before I 


32 The Golden Kingdom 

make no doubt but that I would have started back and cried out 
in horror, for if revolting in a man unconscious, the parchment¬ 
like vault with the dull red encircling line, and the knots and 
cords upon it, was little else than appalling as it surmounted the 
haggard, wizened face of the man. His eyes gleamed in a merry 
madness above his bird’s beak of a nose, his thin lips grinned in 
expectancy, and he kept thrusting forward his hooked chin, from 
which depended his bunch of grey beard, in which, as before, 
the bauble glittered in the candlelight. As it was I could look 
upon the head unmoved, and I did so. 

“ Most interesting,” said I. “ Captain Corkran, we must of a 
surety have you in a peep-show! ” 

Never had a simple sentence a more speedy effect. The light 
died out from his face; he became confused and abashed. There 
was something pathetic in the way he clapped his wig back upon 
his skull, and he stared at me with an expression half of awe, half 
of admiration. 

“ ’Fore God ! ” he mumbled, “ it hath never failed me hereto¬ 
fore,” and with that he reeled and staggered back to his chair. 

“ Come, captain,” said I, with a feeling of pity for him, “ that 
also is a trick worth knowing, but it is useless to try it on a 
chirurgeon, who in his schooling days has whipped off both scalp 
and skull.” 

“ Ay,” said he dourly, “ and is that so, man ? ” 

He bit his lips and sat silent. Presently, however, the drink 
began to work in him again. 

“My scalp,” said he, “or rather, my lack of it, is my fortune. 
Good luck go with the painted fiend who carries it at his girdle ! ” 

“ You lost it in battle ? ” I hazarded, dragging off my boots. 

“You may say so,” said he; “in battle with the red savage, 
who battles like a beast. Bush battle, my lad; a shot from 
behind a tree, or a silent leap from a thicket.” 

“In the Americas?” I queried. 

“ Even there, O great geographer ! ” said he. “ Know you the 
Potomac and the swamps ? But no—a home-bird, a home-bird!” 

He spoke with an air of infinite disdain, waving his hand the 
while 


Corkran the Coxswain 


33 

“ Indeed,” said I, stripping off my cloak, “ I have in my time 
crossed the narrow seas to Holland.” 

“To Holland !” he almost shouted; “man, do you speak the 
Dutch ? ” 

“ I can make very fair shift in that tongue,” said I. 

“ It is a miracle,” he muttered ; “a fair miracle, the book and 
the Dutch—yet they say there is no God !” 

“What?” I asked, for I could make nothing of his meaning. 

He started as from a reverie, and began searching in the 
pockets of his breeches. Presently he produced a little round 
ball of some brown stuff, which I judged to be sticky from the 
way it clung to his finger-tips. 

“ Look you, my Doctor Harry,” said he, paying no attention to 
my question, “ without this I had been dead long since; this 
is food and drink, it is a warm fire, it is the future, it is life, 
man, I tell you, life itself.” He put it to his nostrils : “ For all 
that,” he went on, “ you men of pill and potion know nothing of 
its virtues, you poor islanders with your vile drugs; but, bless 
you ! it is a feast in miniature.” 

He bit at the mess, and shoved it back into his pocket. 

“ Stap me ! ” said he, chewing as he spoke; “ but it is near 
done, and when it is finished, what am I to do then ? ” 

“Do,” I answered, bewildered at his remarks; “it does not 
seem to have done much for you.” 

“ And yet,” he answered, “ it kept me living for a week; 
but, mark you, it is poison on an empty stomach. Give me 
one meal in three days, and I will live like a lord ; but I am 
a liar if I had eaten aught for a week ere I staggered to your 
window.” 

Now, I was certain he was a liar, without any such proviso; but 
I said nothing, having, indeed, no need, for the drug, if drug it 
was, had already begun to exercise its potent power upon him, 
and he chattered like a jay. Never had I heard such a talker or 
such a theme. 

He spoke of the foulest piracy, of the most terrible of storms; 
he described the most wondrous lands and the strangest animals ; 
he dilated on the vilest men of whom I had ever heard, and told 

3 


The Golden Kingdom 


34 

me tales of women who, from his account, must have been of 
a most ravishing loveliness. 

His eyes danced in his head, he shot out his prodigiously long 
arms hither and thither, every muscle fibre in his lean face worked 
and quivered, and a dew of sweat broke out upon his skin. 

At one moment he was sitting by a camp fire in the wilds of a 
forest, and from the deep blackness a multitude of green eyes 
were glaring at him, the next he was astride a hencoop and 
battling with a hideous cuttle-fish. In a trice he would pass from 
a tale of treasure to the eating of a stowaway by rats, from an 
adventure with a monstrous snake to the catching of sea birds 
and the clubbing of seals, for he had sailed in the frozen latitudes. 
Heaven knows my head swam with the number and variety of his 
recountings. I sat and listened, spellbound. This man had 
lived, and I—I had stagnated. 

“ What think you ? ” he cried at last; “ when you are my age, 
what will you have done, Doctor Henry Mortimer ? Ridden a 
few leagues, walked a few leagues, sweated a few leagues, poisoned 
a few poor devils, helped a few more into this good old world and 
a few more out of it, though they be lucky, pocketed a few guineas 
and spent a deal of them. You will have grown fat and taken a 
maid to wife, and skelped her brats, and seen to their schooling, 
and looked out all the time on what ? Stap my vitals ! On this 
accursed, dreary country, and on tongues with half an inch fur on 
them. Body o’ me ! and this is life, you say. Mayhap ’tis for a 
clod or a weakling, but for a strong man and a young man, and a 
man whose blood runs free ! No, no, my Doctor Harry, you have 
done Nicholas Corkran a good turn, and may he rot if he does 
not requite you in like measure! Would you have the yellow 
boys ? Trust old Nick. Would you jingle the rix-dollars? Then 
slip your cable and set sail with me, my lad ! Would you see the 
sun all day and the stars all night ? Come with Nick, my hearty. 
Would you eat luscious fruit and drink the ruddy wine? would you 
live, man, and set your blood a-dancing, and know that you may 
die ere night and yet have lived right royally for once ere ever 
you be snuffed like the candle there ? ” 

He lurched upon his feet and quenched the burning wick, 


Corkran the Coxswain 


35 


though I could have sworn no man could have reached it from 
the spot where he stood. On his bowed legs glowed the light 
from the logs; on his face was the grey shadow of the dawn. 
Whenever I think of that morn I think of Corkran thus, and 
smell the smell of hot tallow; ay, and I recall what followed, for 
all at once he craned his head forward till the cartilage of his 
throat showed like the Adam’s apple it is called, till it quivered in 
motion, till there came that jerking, harsh note in his throat I had 
learned to know; and then, for I sat still like one fascinated, he 
broke into his wild sea-song, line after line, verse after verse, 
beating the time with one skinny forefinger, and filling the room 
with the volume of his voice. 

Sing hey 1 for a voyage to the sunny Cape, 

For a pouch full of gold and the juice of the grape. 

For the rippling beach where the mermaids call, 

For the yellow sands where the turtles crawl. 

Yo, ho, ho! 

Let the good ship go, 

Bunting above and bilge below. 

Sing hey ! for the parrots green and red, 

For the bright sea-snake with the purple head. 

For the sinking sun, like a ruddy ball, 

For the roar of the typhoon and the squall. 

Yo, ho, ho ! 

Let the good ship go, 

Crowded aloft and tight below. 

Sing hey ! for the burst of the sounding sea. 

For the blind look-out on the high cross-tree, 

For the heaving bow and the tossing stern, 

For the fear of death that the sailors learn. 

Yo, ho, ho ! 

Let the old tub go. 

Riven above and rent below. 

Sing hey 1 for the crash on the coral reef, 

For the joy of the shark and the skipper’s grief, 

For the heaving clank of the red pump chain, 

For the gush of the bilge and the green sea rain. 

Yo, ho, ho ! 

Let the old hulk go, 

Barnacles up and bows below. 


3 6 


The Golden Kingdom 

Sin^ hey ! for the days in the open boat, 

For the sun’s fierce glare and the thirsty throat, 

For the oar’s long creak and the broken rest, 

And the fin of the shark on his ceaseless quest. 

Yo, ho, ho ! 

Let the jolly boat go, 

Dead men above and sharks below. 

Sing hey ! for the grin on the dead man’s face, 

For the slicing knife and the lean carcase, 

For the bird with the beak and the last man left, 
For the stranded boat and the shark bereft. 

Yo, ho, ho! 

Let the dead men go 
To Davy Jones who waits below. 

Sing hey ! for the lad on the lonely isle, 

For the signal flag and the firing pile, 

For the knife-notched stick and the sail at last. 

For the lass at home and the perils past. 

Yo, ho, ho! 

Let the mariner go, 

For it’s Jack that can tell what the sea doth show, 
Yo, ho, ho ! 

Let the merry man go, 

Fuddled above and primed below. 


CHAPTER III 


THE EVIL EYE 

Hi had finished, and was back into his chair, a limp and inert 
heap of old clothes ere I came to myself. All the time he sang 
I sat watching and listening, wholly spellbound by his weirdness, 
and also, in some measure, by the magnificence of his voice. 
True, it grated like sand between the teeth as each verse started, 
but once into the swing of the song, it rose full and true, with a 
roll as of sea-billows in it, and something liquid in its notes, 
as though it issued from the belly of incurving waves. Laugh at 
this my description if you will. I trow you have never heard 
Corkran the Coxswain singing the song of his own making, or 
you would be hard put to it to find words wherewith to picture 
the strangeness of his melody. He was fairly beside himself as 
he neared the finish. To the rush of the tune he swung his body, 
to the trip of the words he waved his arms, and all the time the 
thyroid cartilage shielding his windpipe shot up and down, like 
the plug of a pump-piston. 

You have seen a bird, a pretty warbler on a bough—a robin 
redbreast, if you will—stretching his ruffled throat as he piped 
merrily, and you may have marked the vibratings of his syrinx 
or song-box as the tremulous notes issued from out his beak; 
so was it with the sea-dog; only there was nothing pretty about 
him, and his notes poured from between his narrow, colourless 
lips, and not from that great beak of his, the nostrils of which 
quivered as he breathed. But he was done at last; and 
slowly I began to realise where I was, and that it was now 

37 


38 The Golden Kingdom 

daylight, and, worse than all, that half the village was at the 
window. 

The hangings had fallen aside, or, perhaps, for I had paid no 
attention to such a trivial matter on my return—or, perhaps, I 
say, Corkran, in his drunkenness, had been gazing out upon the 
village street ere I entered. However that may be, he had 
gathered his audience, and what first drew my attention to them 
was, I think, the red hood worn by one of the women. Indeed, 
it seemed somehow to have got mixed up with the words of the 
song; and whether or not it was the idea of the red parrot, or the 
horrid gape from the slicing knife, that hood was at first merely a 
crimson spot dancing before my eyes, till, all of a sudden, it 
became motionless, took shape, and I saw it as it really was. 

There were the villagers, close upon a score of them, four deep 
outside the window, their mouths open with astonishment, their 
eyes almost bulging from their sockets. To many of them, as I 
even then reflected, this would be the event of their lives—ay, 
and of my life also—for, like a flash, I remembered that the 
squire’s wife was dead. 

Here was I, on whom these folk depended in times of sickness 
and death far more than they did on their God or the vicar—here 
was I, new come from a death-scene, and discovered with a 
drunken mariner in my house—a bloody pirate to all appearance, 
clad in rags, of an extraordinary countenance, and bawling—nay, 
I crave his pardon—singing, at an unearthly hour, such a song as 
had never before been heard within a dozen miles of Bishop- 
Solingford. It was enough to ruin me, enough to condemn me for 
ever in the place ; and that nothing might be lacking in the case 
against me, I recalled the fact that it was the Sabbath Day. 

What would the vicar say ? That mattered little. What would 
the squire say ? That mattered much. What was I to say ? 
That mattered most of all. I must act quickly, for already the 
throng was increasing, was being augmented by new-comers— 
some only half-clad, despite the cold—so great was the interest 
that had been aroused, so surprising the thing that was happening, 
had happened, was about to happen (Heaven knows what 
rumours were afloat!) in the house of Doctor Henry Mortimer. 


Now that the voice which had attracted them was silent, they 
had begun to talk amongst themselves, those in front telling those 
behind what they had seen, all discussing the matter, questioning 
and being questioned, till the hum of their converse came to me 
through the panes, against which one inquisitive fellow was 
pressing his ugly mug. 

I sprang to my feet, on which he beat a hasty retreat, and, 
crossing the room, I threw open the casement. 

A murmur went up from the people. 

“ It’s the doctor himself, God bless him ! ” M Be quiet, you 
donnered vule ! let’s hark to him,” and such-like phrases. 

“ Good folk,” said I, resolved to take the bull by the horns, 
“ it is not seemly you should stand and gossip thus. The squire’s 
poor lady died this very morning; indeed, I am but new come 
from her bedside.” 

At my words a fresh murmur of voices arose, and one fool of a 
woman shrieked, while others fell a-whimpering. Mistress 
Pumphret had been a good friend to many of them, being as 
kindly and charitable a soul as ever set face within a cottage door. 

Suddenly, however, the shrill voice of a certain sour and ill- 
conditioned fellow, who acted as drawer at the Green Frog was 
raised above the others. 

“ But who bees the singer, Maister Mortimer—who be he, 
now ? Tell us thaat.” 

“ Ay, who be he ? ” chorused half a dozen of them. 

“ I would I knew,” I answered mysteriously. “ All I can say 
is that he is a famished man whose brain is turned by his 
sufferings, and whom I have been trying this past hour to recover 
from his fits. He is quiet now; but it has been an ill task, and a 
scandal besides, that he should bring you trooping to my window 
Sabbath morn, and the lady at the Hall not yet cold.” 

It was a sight to see their upturned faces. They were full of 
doubt and suspicion, and only half-satisfied. 

“ Whoi, so it be, Soonday it is, and us out o’ bed, and 
Mistress Pumphret be still waarm.” 

Scratching their dense heads, or in some other manner 
evincing they were puzzled and perplexed, they began to scatter 


40 The Golden Kingdom 

and go, all except the fellow I have mentioned, Abel Pike by 
name, who coolly forced his way to the front, peered into the 
room under my very nose, and then turned to me, with a grimy 
finger clapped to his greasy nose. 

“ All my eye, Maister Mortimer,” said he; “ and you a-sittin’ 
hearkening to the cap’n there. I do allow, now, as how he bees 
a Papist. I seed a trinket in his beard-tag—a scapular, belike— 
and he was in there or ever you went up to th’ Hall—that he 
were, sure’s Pm Abel Pike.” 

“ Is that so, Abel ? ” said I, knowing the man disliked me for 
having told him my mind anent the way he illtreated his wife and 
starved his children. Not that he was a rogue, for he had no 
spirit in him, save what he drank ; but he was a shiftless, petty, 
interfering sneak, and a thorn in the vicar’s flesh. 

“ Ay, that be so, Maister,” he answered with a leer in his eye. 

“ You are a clever rascal, Abel,” said I, “ to know so much; 
but if you would not know how a cuffed head feels on a Sabbath 
morning you had better be gone, and, harkee, give that tongue of 
yours a rest, else I may have occasion to slit it with a lancet.” 

“ Moi tongue ! ” he replied. “ Look you, Maister, he who slits 
the starling’s tongue makes him speak, and he who says he’ll slit 
Abel Pike’s, whoi, he do the same.” 

With that he thrust out the organ in question at me with a 
most impudent air and shambled off towards the inn, leaving me 
with the uncomfortable feeling that I had not triumphed in this 
encounter and that trouble loomed ahead. 

I closed the window and turned to the unconscious figure in 
the chair, noting even then, for it is strange how little things fix 
themselves in our brains, remarking, I repeat, the contrast the 
russet hair of his wig made with the deep red padding against 
which it rested. 

I approached my old man of the sea and found him in a kind 
of stupor from which it was impossible to rouse him. Con¬ 
sequently I thought the best thing to do was to bundle him to 
bed. Fortunately there was a little chamber at the back of the 
cottage wherein was a bed set in the recess of the wall. It 
was a very tiny room with a small window near the roof and a 


The Evil Eye 41 

door with a keyhole in it. Thither I conveyed the bag of bones, 
finding him very light, for all his bulk of chest and breadth of 
shoulder, and I bestowed him, clothes and all, in the bed and 
covered him up to the chin. Then I locked the door upon him 
and waited impatiently for the coming of Dame Pottinger and 
the cooking of my breakfast. Now that I had leisure to think, I 
became aware of the fact that I was very hungry. Presently the 
old crone came in as usual, after I had put the other room in 
order, and I soon found that she had not an inkling of the events 
of the night. Indeed, she was as deaf as a gargoyle, and 
apparently none of the villagers had taken the trouble to acquaint 
her with the fact that the modest dwelling which she kept clean 
and tidy harboured a most peculiar visitor. 

I made her understand, however, that I had a guest who was 
on no account to be disturbed, and impressed on her the 
importance of refusing admittance to any one who might call to 
see me ; then, having stowed away a comfortable meal, I betook 
me to the vicarage after looking in on my grey mare, which was 
stabled hard by, and was in charge of a very decent one-legged 
fellow, who saw to her feeding and bedding and grooming, and 
carried messages and medicines for me. He was silent and 
taciturn—good qualities in a servant, and if he had heard aught 
showed no sign of it, being busy tossing the straw of the stall 
when I entered and when I left the stabling shed. The vicar, on 
the other hand, was all agog with the news and athirst for 
information, despite the fact that it was the first day of the week. 
He was very dependent on me for reasons afore mentioned, 
having no trust in what he termed unskilled labour, but apart 
from that was a cheery, well-conditioned man, on excellent terms 
with himself and his neighbours. His girth and rubicosity 
necessitated his temper being placid, for the least display of spleen 
would have landed him in an apoplexy. Of an engaging 
plumpness, with bulging cheeks and calves, a merry eye, deep 
set in fat, and a well-controlled love of the bottle, the Reverend 
Hilary Spetticue was to my mind an ideal country parson, whose 
spouse was as amiable as himself, and was indefatigable in 
presenting him with pledges of affection. 


42 


The Golden Kingdom 

“ Come your ways in, doctor,” said he to me. “ What mystery 
is this ? Since ever I rolled out from between the sheets and got 
me into small clothes my ears have been dinned with gossip. If 
I have said mirabile dictu once, I have said it a dozen times, but, 
dear me, is it true that the squire’s lady is no more ? ” 

I nodded curtly, and he lamented her decease for full five 
minutes. 

“ Well, well,” he exclaimed at length, “ we must all go one day ! 
but she has scarce fulfilled her mission. The poor dame was not 
a fruitful vine, like my Amelia. 

A woman should both be a wife and a mother, 

Dame Pumphret was only the one, not the other. 

There’s a couplet for you, doctor,” and so he rambled on, as was 
his way, watching me all the time with his shrewd, brown, twinkling 
eyes and complacently stroking his smooth and ruddy cheeks. 
Presently he reverted to the subject which had first occupied his 
thoughts. 

“ For any sake tell me the truth, doctor,” said he; “I have 
heard so many stories that I can neither make head nor tail of 
what has happened. One informs me that you are sheltering a 
Popish refugee, another that a murderer has sought your hospi¬ 
tality, while not a few have it that the devil himself has found 
refuge under your thatch.” 

“ Well,” I answered, “ you may take it the last is nearest the 
truth,” and thereupon I told him the tale, at least as much of it 
as was good for him to know. 

“ Harkee, Mr. Spetticue,” said I, “ it is an ugly business, 
coming as it does on the top of Dame Pumphret’s decease. The 
man is utterly unlike anything these clods have seen or imagined, 
and will be to them what a red rag is to a bull. For all that, I 
have given him food and shelter, and under my roof-tree he bides 
till he is strong enough to go elsewhere.” 

“ Is it wise, doctor ? ” replied the vicar, an easy-going man, who 
hated strife and trouble and shied at difficulties as a timid horse 
shies at a stiff hedge. 


“ Wise or not, it is at least humane,” I urged. “ Am I to hear 
one of your cloth advising me to turn this poor wretch adrift, 
whatever his sins may have been ? If so, then as I live, I count 
him more man than yourself.” 

I spoke irritably, having had no sleep, and I scared the worthy 
parson. 

“ No, no, you mistake me; but after what the squire said of 
his nephew-” 

“ The deuce take his nephew ! ” I answered ; “ surely I can stand 
on my own feet—Heaven knows they are large enough ! But this 
Corkran is half starved and wholly destitute,—indeed, he does 
not look as though he had long to live.” 

“ His death would indeed be a happy deliverance,” replied the 
vicar piously; “ but such men live for ever, as the prophet Daniel 
said to King Darius. You are as stubborn as your worthy father 
before you, Harry my boy, and will bring a hornets’ nest about 
your ears. But see, I will help you.” 

“In what way, sir?” 

“ Well, what say you to a sermon on the Good Samaritan ? 
True, I had intended discoursing on Jonah this morning, but 
I have somewhere in the barrel an exposition dealing with the 
man who fell amongst thieves, and I will look it out and fit an 
application to it. Verily,” he chuckled gleefully, “the idea 
is a good one.” 

“ Humph ! ” I growled, none too gratefully, “ I have no wish 
to figure publicly in that guise, and from the appearance of this 
sea-dog I should say a thief had fallen in on me. Certainly he 
pouched my ale and strong waters without so much as by your 
leave.” 

“ Capital, my dear sir, capital 1 Did you not pour wine into 
his wounds?” 

“ Damme, sir, no! he poured my ale at a gulp into his stomach. 

“Come, come, Harry, we must not follow the parable too 
closely, and such conduct on his part, though we will never 
mention it, makes your own behaviour all the more admirable. 
Leave it to me, and those who cursed will turn to blessing.” 

“ So be it,” I assented, “ though I wish neither their curses nor 



44 


The Golden Kingdom 

their blessings. If they but paid my fees, did my bidding, and 
let my private affairs alone, I would rest very well content.” 

“Would you, my lad? I doubt it hugely. Wer’t ever 
impatient, a restless being, and too big for your boots, despite 
the size of your feet. Howbeit, I will do my best with the 
parishioners, though they seem to have got it into their heads that 
your mariner has the evil eye.” 

“ The evil eye ! Faith, he has two as evil orbs in his skull as 
ever glowed by candlelight. The next thing will be that he has 
bewitched me, and is the cause of Dame Pumphret’s seizure 
and death.” 

“ Very like, very like; we are full of superstitions, but mean¬ 
while I will get Amelia to look out the Good Samaritan, and for 
your sake I will put myself in the very worst light. Not that 
I recall the rascal bellowing, for I was snug amongst the feathers 
an hour and more before he came trailing down the street, and 
so never heard him; still, I will liken myself to the priest, and 
the villagers to the Levite, the Hall will be Jerusalem, your own 
cottage Jericho, and-” 

“ Hold, hold ! ” said I, laughing at his eagerness, “ my journey 
was done, and I was safely within the walls of Jericho or ever 
our friend whined for an alms out amongst the snow.” 

“ Tut, tut, my dear lad ! we must not trace the parable too 
minutely. Leave it to me, and come yourself and listen.” 

“Not I! Old Farmer Deane claims my attendance, and while 
you are perjuring yourself I must be in the saddle, despite the 
day and the drifts. A jolly life, Mr. Spetticue, a jolly life ! ” 

“ Out upon you, you rogue ! ” he cried. “ I abandon a new and 
elegant theme and rake up my dusty parchments, and all the 
thanks I get is a talk of perjury and a grumble. Do your work, 
sir,—useful work, good work, God’s work, sir, as He gives you 
strength,” and with that the cheery parson thrust me forth, 
bidding me be of good cheer, and come to him if I wanted 
a bottle of sound Oporto for my latest patient. 

Scarce had I gone a dozen steps, however, when he recalled me. 

“ Why,” said he, “ so intent was I on hearing your news that 
I clean forgot to give you mine.” 



The Evil Eye 


45 


“And what may that be?” 

“Truly, I think the world is coming to an end, for in addition 
to your bony bone of contention, there is another stranger come 
to Bishop-Solingford.” 

“ What! ” I gasped, knowing from experience his way of 
putting things. 

“ Nay, nay, doctor, not so, though there be hopes in that 
direction, as you are aware; I merely mean that the forge has a 
new master, a blacksmith has come at last, and they tell me he is 
a Goliath of Gath, and of a peculiar complexion.” 

Now, though I have not mentioned it, having, indeed, had 
enough to recount heretofore, our village smithy had a history of 
its own, and that a tragic one, owing to the doings of Squire 
Pumphret’s great black stallion. This horse was famous through¬ 
out twenty parishes, and the pride of the county, a huge brute, 
Lincolnshire bred, and of an enormous bulk and strength, massy 
in bone, and with a chest on which the vast muscles stood forth 
in two rounded mounds of solid flesh. I shall have more to tell 
of this beast; suffice it to say that every attempt to have it shod 
had failed. 

It was the squire’s whim to have badges of servitude nailed 
upon its hoofs, but the first smith who had undertaken the task 
was a cripple for life and a pensioner at the Hall, and the second 
had bespattered the smithy walls with his brains, and his family 
had been the special care of the squire’s late wife. The horse 
had thus come to be looked upon with dread, and some had 
clamoured to have it shot; but Squire Pumphret said, “ No,” and 
his word was law. Consequently, the stallion went unshod, and 
the tales concerning it were many, and, in great part, exaggerated; 
but, what was worse, was that the squire would tolerate no smith 
who would not undertake the task on which his heart was set. 

As a result, men came and men went, there being found none 
daring enough to master the animal to the extent of fitting him 
with shoes. 

It was mightily inconvenient, for the work was intermittent, 
and it came hardest on me, who took more use out of horse flesh 
than any one else in the village. For a fortnight the smithy fire 


46 The Golden Kingdom 

had not blazed, nor the bellows been blown, nor hammer clanged 
on anvil, and there was much grumbling at the squire’s folly and 
obstinacy. It had the effect, however, of increasing the fame of 
Hercules, as the horse was fitly named, and of giving Bishop- 
Solingford somewhat of a notoriety, if not, indeed, a distinction. 
Thus I was interested in the vicar’s news. 

“ I fear,” said I, “ ’twill be but a repetition of the old thing—a 
faint heart and a silent forge, and I do not wonder. The squire 
is mad, and the smiths are not, so-” 

“ Mayhap, mayhap,” answered Mr. Spetticue gravely; “but they 
say this big, white-haired fellow, who, curiously enough, is called 
Jacob Little, has come from miles away for no other purpose than 
to pit his strength against the stallion’s.” 

“Then,” laughed I, “he is in the same condition as the squire; 
but he can start on my old mare, she needs shoeing badly, 
thanks to all this nonsense.” 

I was again about to depart, when I remembered I had for¬ 
gotten to tell the vicar one portion of my tale and ask his advice, 
—namely, as to Corkran’s interest in my book on fevers, his excite¬ 
ment on discovering I could speak Dutch, and his apparent 
deduction therefrom that there was a God. I put it to the worthy 
parson, but the riddle was beyond him. 

“ No doubt he has suffered from the swamp fever in foreign 
parts, and thinks you may be able to rid him of it,” was all he 
could suggest, and so, no whit enlightened, I once again quitted 
his hospitable door. 

I took my way slowly homewards, pondering deeply over the 
events of the night and the bearing they were likely to have upon 
my future; yet in that short walk down the village street some¬ 
thing befell which added to my troubles—a trifling affair enough, 
but destined to be of some importance. 

As I walked, staff in hand, through the slush I passed a crowd 
of children, and from amongst them a little maid came dancing 
merrily to meet me. I had a trick of carrying sweet stuffs about 
with me for my tiny patients, and so was on excellent terms with 
all the' young folks, not a few of whom I had ushered into the 
world, while I had battled for the lives of others, being, though I 



say it, somewhat skilled in the treatment of the infantile disorders, 
or perhaps having merely the knack of soothing a small sufferer 
and guessing at his complaint, and the sense to leave matters 
very much to old Dame Nature, the best physician of us all. 
Therefore, when this little maid came tripping over the snow I 
began to search my pockets for some toothsome morsel for her; 
but she halted some distance away and looked at me doubtfully, 
one finger at her cherry lips. 

“ What’s the matter, Rosie ? ” I asked, recognising one of my 
chief favourites, a dainty maid with a merry chatter and a frank, 
engaging manner. She drew near me very slowly, and when I 
made pretence to catch her, screamed and fled from me. 
Growing bolder, however, she again approached, wonder and 
awe marked on her chubby Saxon countenance. 

“ Has he the evil eye ? ” she asked in a half whisper. 

“ He ? whom do you mean ? ” I queried, knowing well 
enough. 

“ The bad man who lodges with you and sings wild songs.” 

“ Come, come ! ” said I, “ who put such nonsense in your pretty 
head, my lass ? ” 

“ It’s not nonsense!” she answered stoutly. “ Mother she does 
say he has cast a spell on you and killed the squire’s lady.” 

“ Pooh, pooh ! ” I replied, and poked my stick at her. 

As ill-luck would have it, she slipped in trying to evade it, and 
fell on the snow, with one foot doubled up beneath her. She 
was more scared than hurt, and set up a lusty yelling, which 
brought her precious gossip of a mother hurrying from a cottage 
close at hand. The woman had seen me as she thought strike 
down the innocent child, and would on no account let me touch 
her, heaping me with reproaches, crying out in a shrill voice that 
there was a curse upon me, that the devil had me in his grip, and 
a string of similar follies. 

It was in vain I strove to calm her, told her the thing was but 
an accident, offered to examine the ankle, and even appealed to 
the child. The irate woman was not to be mollified, and hurried 
off with her offspring to retail her woes to several other busy- 
bodies of her sex. 


48 The Golden Kingdom 

I was annoyed that such a fuss should be made about nothing 
at all, and worried to find also that, as the vicar had surmised, a 
superstitious horror of this Corkran had fastened upon some 
of the silly fools who had heard his performance. I scarce 
wondered at it, for I knew the temper of these folk, amongst 
whom much of my life had been passed, their prejudices and 
ignorance; while the man himself was certainly weird enough to 
raise grave doubts concerning him in the minds of simple 
country people, whose ideas of all that passed within six miles 
of them were of the vaguest. 

Nor was this all. The child’s companions seemed also to 
imagine that I was to blame for her fall, and persisted in 
following me down the street at a respectful distance and calling 
out names after me as though I had been a village natural. It 
was utterly ridiculous, but at the same time degrading, especially 
when one young rogue bolder than his fellows made a dash at 
my back and caught me neatly on the nape of the neck with a 
ball of snow which his plump fingers had kneaded. 

I paid no attention beyond turning and shaking my fist at 
them, but the incident affected me unpleasantly. 

“ Familiarity,” said I to myself, “ breedeth contempt.” I had 
done better to be as pompous as the vicar, who out of doors 
affected an air, strut, and gravity of demeanour ridiculous in my 
eyes, but most impressive to his humble flock. The snow melted 
and trickled down my back, causing me some slight discomfort, 
but apart from that I was for an instant pained to think that I, the 
village doctor, should suffer such an indignity at the hands of 
a child. 

It was not mere fun—indeed, had it been so, I would have 
entered into the spirit of the thing, and, if need be, rolled my 
tormentors in the snow and paid them back in their own coin. 
No, their cries were jeers, their actions born of anger and 
suspicion, and what hurt me most of all, was the knowledge 
that the little rascal who had done me this despite was one with 
whom I had sat up with for two long weary nights when his body 
was racked with pain and the pertussis shook him like an 
ague fit. 


49 


The Evil Eye 

A moment I thought thus, and then I dismissed this morbid, 
childish sensitiveness. “ Good lack, Harry ! ” said I. “ Surely 
the coxswain has bewitched you when you let a mere whim of a 
few infants distress you ! Be a man ! You grow pudding-headed 
in this dull hole.” 

With that I reached my own door, intent on seeing how my 
mariner fared ere I set out on my weary round of visits. 


4 


CHAPTER IV 

THE BAUBLE IN THE BEARD 

I entered and found that he was much as I had left him, 
still sunk in a heavy stupor, his eyes closed so that I could see how 
wrinkled his lids were, his breathing heavy, almost sterterous, 
and his pulse weak and thready. It was hard to believe that 
such a man as this had ever been a smiling, crowing babe, 
had ever been dandled in a fond mother’s arms, had, perhaps, been 
the joy and hope of a proud father. These were the thoughts 
which chased through my mind as I stood and looked at his 
mahogany visage, the crow’s feet at the outer eye angles, the huge 
scar running from his temple to the smooth whitish patch, with, 
in its centre, the puckered skin guarding the entrance to the ear 
membrane. What a career he must have had, this tough old 
tarpaulin ! what sights he must have seen, what cries he must have 
heard, what horrors must he have encountered ! How hum-drum 
were the lives of most compared with that which Fortune had 
arranged for him ! And yet it seemed as though that life were 
drawing to an end, that strong flame, which had been blown 
this way and that by the gusts of adversity, appeared as though 
it were about to be quenched. A strange ending for an old 
salt, to die in a box-bed in the cottage of a village leech, 
miles from his ocean home; to drag his anchor and drift silently 
into the unknown, a battered hulk with canvas in rags, and 
no doubt a very foul lading aboard of which to give account 
to the Great Supercargo whose reckoning he must face. 

Well, it was my business to be his best bower anchor, to moor 


5 ° 


The Bauble in the Beard 


5i 

him to the holding ground of good mother earth, to bring him 
up head to wind, and see if he could not even yet weather this 
storm in which he was like to founder. Food was what he wanted, 
food and stimulant and rest, and I vowed he should have all three, 
despite the squire and Abel Pike and all the blockheads in 
Bishop-Solingford. 

I roused him sufficiently to get him to swallow some more 
of my panada, and then I stripped him, wondering at his leanness 
and the marks and tattooing on his hide, for he was a veritable 
picture-book. 

I got him into a warm garment of linsey wool, and all the time 
I handled him he kept muttering and cursing, now talking in some 
foreign tongue, anon in a queer sea jargon; but I noticed that every 
now and then his hand would wander to his beard and feel 
for and clutch at the bauble which was suspended amongst 
the grey hairs. I did not touch it, but I noted it was oval 
in shape, convex on both sides, shaped like a shell, bright 
green in colour, clear like glass, and set in a frame of filigree 
brass work. 

Furthermore, I found that a thin double chain, apparently of 
gold links, passed from this curious ornament and stretched from 
the back of his beard to the scraggy skin of his throat, where 
it disappeared. 

As far as I could see, it had been looped through a fold of his 
cuticle, which had been perforated, just as the lobe of an ear may 
be pierced to admit some ring or trinket, or, as I was ere long to 
see, to carry the snuff-spoon of a savage. It was certainly an 
ingenious way of securing the safety of the bauble, for the chain 
was obscured by the beard hairs, and anyone who thought to secure 
the glittering piece of glass by cutting off the beard while its owner 
slept would assuredly strike the metal links and in all probability 
drag upon the skin fold and wake the coxswain. What that 
worthy could be like in a rage I myself had discovered, and that 
when he was worn out with privation and fatigue! 

“ Woe betide the unhappy wight/’ thought I, “ who tries to rob 
this ancient mariner of his charm or whatever it may be, 
in such a manner as I have indicated ! ” Had any tried the trick 


52 The Golden Kingdom 

I felt there was a probability, nay, a likelihood, that such now slept 
the sleep which is dispelled by one thing only, and that the trump 
of doom. 

To secure this waif, if possible, from such a rude awakening, 
I made Dame Pottinger heat a brick at the fire, and, wrapping it 
in cloths, clapped it to his soles, while I heaped the bedding 
upon him and forced more nutriment down his throat, the 
changing and turning having enfeebled him in some measure. 
He revived again as evidenced by his pulse-beat, and eventually 
I deemed it safe to leave him locked in as before. It was 
the Sabbath, a day on which I was wont to rest as much as 
possible; but for all that I had work to do and a long ride 
to compass, there being several • cases of a kind of spotted fever 
in the outlying farms. Consequently I was soon on Nancy’s back, 
and she, good mare, fetlock deep in snow on the lone roads. 

My round was not so dreary as I have known it, chiefly because 
my mind was well employed, and it was a relief to see folk who 
knew nothing to my discredit, were glad to have a sight of 
me, and were sorry when I quitted them. In my dealings 
with the sick I have ever made it a point to be cheery and even 
jovial, deeming a good sound pat on the back a better medicine 
than half the filth I was taught to dispense. Why, I have known 
me sit and crack jokes with a man till his jaw dropped, though to 
be sure he was an exceptional patient and a hopeless unbeliever, 
who was in a much more parlous state than I had supposed. 
I remember the case even to this day, for it is but rarely that one 
meets with a being who enjoys his own death-bed. 

I am wandering from my theme, however, for all my dependents 
were very much alive, and in a fair way to mend, while on my 
return I was pleased to discover that my especial charge had made 
some slight improvement. The stupor had been replaced by 
something more like healthy slumber, and he awoke late in 
the afternoon, when I began to feed him. 

His black eyes opened, he stared about him in a dazed way, and 
then the light of recollection came into his face. 

He took his food quietly, though without much desire, and 
when he had done looked fixedly at me. 


The Bauble in the Beard 53 

“ I have forgot your name,” said he, and his voice was very 
weak, a bad sign I told myself. 

“ Mortimer,” I answered, “ Doctor Henry Mortimer.” 

“To be sure, to be sure,” he replied; “but a murrain on the 

Mortimer! You are Doctor Harry to me, and a-good leech at 

that,” he added, with a wonderful garnishing of oaths. He had 
actually a trick of breaking up a long word by inserting a swear in 
the middle of it, so that it is impossible to set down his converse 
precisely as he spoke. It was a mere habit with him, and not 
a pretty one, though it gave rise to some very amazing expressions. 

“ Ay, ay, Doctor Harry,” he went on, muttering to himself, 
“ you are the right breed, broad of back, true at heart, though 
plain of face, cursedly plain, my lancet-monger ! ” 

His frankness was embarrassing, and, besides, I had not been 
wont to consider myself so very ill-looking, nor, for that matter, 
had one or two farmers’ daughters in their time, though they had 
got scant satisfaction, I fear. I humoured him, however. 

“ Well, captain,” said I, “ we cannot all have your good looks, 
and must rest content.” 

He did not reply, but winked an eye at me again, an action 
more expressive than a dozen phrases, though it were hard to tell 
all that the wink denoted, and perhaps happily so. 

“ What do they make of me ? ” he asked presently. 

“You mean the villagers?” 

He nodded. 

“Some have it you are the devil,” he grinned feebly; “others 
that you have at least the evil eye;” he winked at me once more, 
“ and yet others that you are a papist! ” 

“ Godam ! ” said he, “ is it likely that one who has been a 
galley slave of the holy Inquisition, and chained by the leg when 
an Algerine rover fired chain shot and threw stink-pots at him, 
should love the faith of the Don ? No, no, Doctor Harry, 
Nicholas is a heretic. But what do you think ? ” 

“ Meaning as to my religion ? ” 

“ Body o’ me ! no, you may worship a yellow Khoi-Khoin for 
all I care! What do you think of me, of me?” He tapped 
himself on the chest. 



54 The Golden Kingdom 

“ Think ! ” I answered; “ I fancy you would make a good friend 
and a bad enemy.” 

“ And that’s a God’s truth,” he chuckled. “ But you have not 
my meaning yet. Do you imagine I care one jot or tittle for your 
opinion upon my character ? Stap me ! no. What of my chances, 
Doctor Harry ? Is it barnacles up my cock, or the leak found 
and a dry hold?” 

I replied cautiously, as I would have done to an anxious patient 
or, rather, to his friend, for it is the latter who usually puts such a 
query, and more especially if there be a question of legacy, more 
shame to him ! 

He looked quaintly at me and gave a short hollow laugh. 

“ Do you take me for a lost soul ? ” said he; “a lost soul afraid 
of the brimstone ? Man! I may pop at any moment. Is it not 
so?” he asked almost fiercely. 

“ It will be,” I answered, “ if you do not keep calm.” 

“It will be,” he repeated scornfully; “why, my lad, it has 
been ever since I was weaned, or at least since ever I footed a 
plank. Boy and man old Nick has faced his namesake these fifty 
and odd years and baffled him, seen his tail, man! with the barb 
at the end of’t, and, split me ! but he would see it again if it were 
worth his while.” 

“ And is it not ? ” I asked. 

“ God knows,” he answered wearily, and turned on his side. 

It was not till evening that he spoke with me again. He was 
neither better nor worse, but his voice was a trifle stronger. I 
questioned him as to how he came to be so far from the sea and 
in such a sorry plight. 

“ You may ask,” he said. “ Bump on the Welsh rocks goes the 
Three Sisters, bound for the Mersey, and old Nicholas the only 
one to make the shore, as usual. Gad ! but they squealed like 
scared rabbits when they should have saved their breaths. Well, 
’tis the third time Nick Corkran has been the sole survivor of a 
ship’s company, and they say the third time’s lucky. Looks like 
it, Doctor Harry, does it not ? ” 

“ It looks,” said I gravely, a trifle shocked at his levity, “as if your 
life was intended to be of some use to some one, if not to yourself.” 


The Bauble in the Beard 


55 

Even so,” he answered, “ and, methinks, you are that man.” 

I wondered what he meant, but he went on to tell me that 
Bristol was the only decent port in the West country, that he was 
not acquainted with any of his calling there, but that knowing a 
ship’s master in London who would give him a berth, he had set 
off to tramp it across country, had been overtaken by the wild 
wintry weather, had lost his bearings, and wandered miserably 
after having escaped from some filthy town gaol in which he had 
been lodged as a vagrant. Had I been doubtful as to whether or 
no he had always been the rough rip he appeared, his narration 
would have satisfied me, especially the bitterness with which he 
spoke of having been forced to beg his bread. He declaimed 
with such vehemence that he exhausted himself, and I prayed 
him to desist. 

“ Nay, nay,” he gasped, “ to-morrow may be too late ; you shall 
hear me to-night if it kills me.” 

For all that I would have left him, but that I was very curious 
to know what he had to say, and, moreover, saw little chance of 
his recovery, while his anxiety when I spoke of going did him 
more harm than his efforts at speech, so that after insisting on his 
resting for a space and plying him with some strong cordial, 1 
allowed him to proceed. His first words surprised me. 

“ You have rifled my pockets, no doubt,” he said ; “ and what 
have you found ? ” 

“ Sir,” I answered with some heat, “ all I know about your 
pockets is that those of the tail of your coat are in the seat of 
your breeches, and that somewhere in the latter you keep a 
brown and sticky mass which, when eaten, has a peculiar effect 
upon you.” 

“ Your pardon, Doctor Harry,” said he; “ but I have lived 
amongst thieves half my days. Now tell me, is there a mother 
Carey, and has she chickens ? ” 

I suppose I looked bewildered. 

“ Zounds, man! is there a Mistress Harry, and a herd of 
brats ? ” 

“ Why, no,” I replied; “ you yourself, if I remember aright, 
predicted such a fate in store for me.” 


56 The Golden Kingdom 

“ Did I, then? I vow I do not recollect the prophecy. Well, 
hast any ties, my bachelor ? Is there a fair maid or a grandam, or 
a cousin of whom you have expectations, or any kith or kin ? ” 

I shook my head. “Since my father died I have been alone in 
this world, and have scarce a friend, save our vicar, who is fat and 
fifty.” 

“ Right!” said he. “ You are the man for my money. I am 
about to make my will, Doctor Harry, and, stap me! if I do not 
make you my heir.” 

“ Heir ! ” I cried, “ heir to what ? ” 

“To the Golden Kingdom,” said he, “ the Golden Kingdom of 
Monomotapa.” 

For a moment I thought his wits were astray, but he was sane 
enough, though his black eyes were alight with excitement. He 
raised himself upon the pillow and moistened his parched lips 
with his tongue. 

“Are you man enough,” he croaked, “to face the perils of a 
long sea voyage, to eat the squirming weevils in the biscuit, to 
drink yellow water from stinking casks, to brave the wild beasts 
of the forest, to slay the Maligryghas, to starve and sweat and 
struggle to the goal ? Have you a taste for strange ventures, a 
stiff backbone, and a stout heart ? Have you, for there is the 
crux, a cure for the deadliest of swamp fevers ? In short, my master, 
do you fear to become as I am, or do you not ? ” 

What was I to say to such an harangue ? I sat and stared at 
him in some dismay, but he clearly expected an answer, and, 
therefore, I replied to what I judged to be the most difficult of his 
questions. 

“ Slay what ? ” I asked. “ Whom am I to slay ? ” 

“ Hee, hee! ” he chuckled, “ you would be at the blood¬ 
letting already, true to your craft, my doctor ! Nay then, it is no 
dragon, nought but the Abatwa.” 

“ The Abatwa ? ” I repeated, no wiser than before. 

“ A plague on you ! ” he exclaimed impatiently ; “ they are but 
pigmy savages, scarce four feet high ! ” 

“ He must be mad,” I thought, and I resolved to humour 
him 


57 


The Bauble in the Beard 

" E g ad ! captain,” I said, “ I will slay them two at a time.” 

“ So far so good,” he croaked. “ And as to the other items ? ” 

“ I assure you,” I answered, “ that I love the sea, more particu¬ 
larly in time of tempest, account weevils a dainty, yellow water 
from stinking casks is my delight, I am a very Nimrod, fasting I 
look upon as wholesome, and sweating as beneficial to the 
kidneys. I have a longing for adventure, the backbone of an 
Englishman, and the heart of Corkran the Coxswain. As for the 
swamp fevers, they are my especial study, and the deadlier they 
are the better 1 like them.” 

All the time I spoke he kept ticking off the various points upon 
his lean and horny fingers, and when I had done he threw himse’f 
back and laughed till the tears stood in his eyes and I thought he 
would choke. 

“ Split me ! ” he croaked, “ but this is a lad after mine own 
heart.” 

“ Further,” I continued, intent now upon the carrying through of 
the jest, “ so little do I fear becoming like you that after having 
done all these things there is no place I should so much fancy as 
this very bed on which you lie, and no drink like the very cordial 
you have swallowed.” 

“ Is it so ? ” he cried; then 

Sing hey ! for a voyage to the sunny Cape, 

For a pouch full of gold and the juice of the grape, 

For the rippling beach where the mermaids call, 

For the yellow sands where the turtles crawl, 

Yo, ho, ho, 

Let the good ship go 
Bunting above and bilge below.” 

His singing was of the feeblest, with many a stop and quaver, 
but it stirred me strangely. Visions danced before my eyes. I 
seemed to get a glimpse of foreign countries, to smell rich, ripe 
fruit, to see the sun-glare on broad green leaves, and then I came 
to myself and I was in the little chamber with a sick man, husky 
of voice, lying on a bed in a hollow of the wall and with the 
candle-light reflected from the glass bauble in his beard. 


58 The Golden Kingdom 

“ What Cape ? ” I queried ; “ what Cape is this of which you 
sing ? ” 

“ ’Tis what some have called the Cape of all the Storms,” he 
answered, but others, and these be right, have named it the Cape 
of Good Hope.” 

“ Why,” said I, “ it is in Africa ! ” 

“ Even there, my great geographer,” he replied, as he had once 
said before. 

With that he began fingering the trinket and presently, just as I 
expected, for I was long past surprises by this time, it opened, being 
a kind of locket, and after much fumbling he pulled out of it a tiny 
folded piece of paper and handed it to me. 

“ Unfold it,” he said. 

I did so, and found that so thin was the stuff that it made quite 
a goodly spread when fully undone and smoothed out, though not 
much larger than a thumb-nail when flat and folded. 

On it was traced in black ink, but little faded, the outline of a 
map. The main line, heavier than all the rest, ran in a curve 
beginning and ending abruptly, forming a crescent, I say, or 
rather an angle with a blunt irregular apex, and from the figures of 
ships drawn on one side of it I judged it to represent a coast line. 
My opinion was confirmed when I studied it nearer the candle 
flame. The names of capes and bays were marked. I read the 
words Good Hope and Agulhas, and against a tiny islet was 
written St. Croix. 

Ere I could study it more fully Corkran called to me 
impatiently. He was leaning over the side of the bed, and when 
I approached him he motioned me to place a chair conveniently 
by him, and took the paper from my hand. Then when he had 
spread it out upon the seat of the chair, and as I held the candle so 
that its light illumined the tracings, he proceeded to explain the 
drawing, nor would he listen to my protestations when I assured 
him he would do himself harm. 

“ There,” said he, “ is the southern ocean first furrowed by the 
keels of the vessels of Bartholomew Diaz, the Portuguese. How is 
that river’s mouth named ? ” 

“ The Do Infanta,” I read. 



[page 58. 


CHART OF CORKRAN, THE COXSWAIN. 




























































The Bauble in the Beard 


59 

“ So! That is where he landed in the year of our Lord i486. 
Hast read the * Lusiad of Camoens ’ ? ” 

“ I have not so much as heard of it,” I replied. 

“ And yet,” said he, “ you pride yourself upon your learning. 
Man, it sings the praises of one Vasco de Gama of Lusitania, 
called likewise Portugal.” 

“ The navigator ! ” I cried. 

“ Even so, my great historian. See, my finger traces his course 
on the way to Calicut. But here I stop.” 

The black-tipped nail of his right forefinger, square cut and 
broken at the tip, had halted at a place where was a promontory 
and a bay. 

“ How is it called ? ” he asked eagerly. 

“ Three words,” I answered, “ run out from it into the sea, and 
they spell Terra de Natal.” 

“Ay, ay,” he continued excitedly, “or Natal for short—the 
Christmas land, my lad, though devil a snowflake or an ice crust 
have I seen in it save on the highest mountain peaks. How many 
leagues, think you, is it from this speck in the deep we call 
England ? ” 

I shook my head. 

“ Eight thousand sea miles, and more, my cock, and yet with a 
fair wind one may sight it in three months out of Plymouth 
Sound; but, look you, Perestrello was there long since, and many 
a barrel-bowed Dutch galiot has made the bay. On that very 
point I was cast away in a slaver, and of the two who swam to 
shore with me, one was taken by a shark, the other trampled to 
death by an elephant. Saw you ever an elephant, Doctor Harry ? ” 

“ Nay,” said I, “ save in books.” 

“ Ho, ho ! ” he laughed. “I warrant the best book is that God 
made—the sea its title-page, and the forest a fair sheet also. That 
is where I have seen him—ay, and hunted him, my master. Stap 
me ! but I have had this very wig of mine whipped off by his 
trunk, and thereby escaped alive. But enough—enough. Read 
me the other names.” 

“ I see,” said I, “ a great mountain-chain in the westward 
running north and south.” 


6o 


The Golden Kingdom 

“ Go on,” he croaked. 

“ Furthermore, a mighty river rises in it, and flows to the sea, 
meeting the latter at this cape called Agulhas. The river is 
named—is named,” I added, peering at it closely, for a red, wavy 
line was drawn through the writing, “ the Camissa.” 

“ It is a lie ! ” he said shortly, “ and is blotted out in blood— 
why and whose I may some day tell you.” 

“ I see,” said I, “ two other rivers marked to the north of the 
land of Natal.” 

“ Ay, ay, to the norrard—to the norrard are the Rio de 
St. Luzia and the Rio de Spirito Sancto.” 

“ It is so marked,” I answered. 

“ In some measure,” he replied, “ these also are lies.” 

“ Do you tell me,” said I, “ that you have travelled all over this 
vast region—for such it seems, if the scale be not a further lie ? ” 

“ If I were a liar I would say yes,” he answered. “ As it is, I 
have traversed some of it, and, what is more, I have been where 
no white man has trod, and I have seen what no white man 
has seen.” 

“ And what may that be ? ” I asked breathlessly. 

“ The Golden Kingdom,” he replied for the second time. 

“ Why,” I cried, “ it is marked here, to the east of the Rio de 
Camissa ! There are castles with turrets studded thick upon the 
paper, and across it is written Empire of Mono—of Monomo ”— 
I spelt it slowly—“ of Monomotapa.” 

“ Ay, ay,” said he, “ the Empire of the Men of the Mines ; 
but that also, Doctor Harry, is a lie.” 

“ Then I am heir to a lie.” 

“No, no ! ” he shouted, and struck his clenched fist upon the 
chair-seat; “ you are heir, if you will, to a kingdom of gold, or, 
at the least, to a sight of it.” 

“ Which you have just told me does not exist.” 

“ Which I was just about to tell you does not exist where 
marked.” 

“ Then there is such a place ? ” 

“ Most assuredly, for with mine own eyes I have seen the 
golden walls of its chief city.” 


The Bauble in the Beard 61 

“The walls, and why not the streets, captain—the streets and 
its people ? ” 

“Because,” said he, very carefully, and watching my face as he 
spoke—“ because of a great swamp, where is bred a pestilent 
fever, a swamp which no man may cross and live. Methinks, 
Doctor Harry, it is even such a fever as you like, for there is none 
deadlier in all Africa.” 

So this was the reason of his interest in the treatise of Rhazes 
the Arabian. I was, in his opinion, destined to help either 
himself or myself, or both of us, to safely pass this fever-stricken 
marsh ; my knowledge, or rather that contained in the Latin 
volume, was to be the bridge. 

“The bridge,” thought I; “of a verity if we undertake its 
passage, it may be christened the Pons Asinorum ”; for all this 
appeared to me the wildest nonsense I had ever heard. 

“ I perceive,” I said, “ why you were so intent on a certain 
tome yesternight; but I remember that the fact that I could 
speak Dutch also-” 

“Yes, yes,” he broke in, giving me no time to finish. “Who 
are the masters at the Cape of Good Hope ? The Dutch, whom 
Van Riebeck, a man of your trade, planted there. Listen ! He 
sent an expedition on this very quest. It failed. Why? 
Because his charts were wrong; for it is through Terra de Natal, 
and not by way of the River Camissa, that we must strike for the 
Men of the Mines. Still, much may be learned from these 
beamy Dutchmen, who know the country to the west; but they 
are born liars, and one must listen, and not question, for they will 
speak freely among themselves only.” 

“ I take you,” I replied ; “ but I recall a further remark you 
were pleased to make. From the facts that I owned a treatise on 
fevers and understood the tongue of Holland you appeared to 
find an argument against the infidel.” 

His face changed, and he glanced at me suspiciously. 

“Well,” said he, “and if I did, who else guided me to this 
dwelling unless it were our mutual Maker ? ” 

“Granted,” I answered; “but will the mere love of gold 
account for your desperate anxiety, your deadly earnestness? 



62 The Golden Kingdom 

Why drag the name of God into such an unholy greed after 
filthy lucre ? ” 

He looked as if he could have struck me, and then he laughed 
harshly. 

“ Greed, is’t ? What good will money-bags, and the yellow 
grains, and the golden bars do to a dying man? Tell me that, 
Doctor Harry. Stap me ! but do you not see that such a kingdom 
won for England will make her lord of the land—will oust these 
stolid Dutch and greasy Portuguese ? Have you no spirit of 
conquest, no thought to do mighty deeds, to advance the red 
cross of St. George, to be a Drake, a Blake, or—for I count him 
the greatest—a Sir Walter Raleigh, that pioneer of fortune ?” 

“ Nay,” said I bluntly; “ nor, for the matter of that, 

have you.” 

He lay silent a moment, and his lips twitched. 

“ Perchance,” he said presently, “ 1 have had in my time too 
great a soul for my body; and mayhap I have another reason to 
advance. But, tell me, are you for the quest, or are you not ? ” 

He tapped the paper with his dirty nail-tip; and looking at it 
again, I saw that on it were also drawn tiny figures of strange 
animals, huge birds, elephants, deer, and other horned beasts 
wholly unknown to me. I stared at him, wondering if I were 
on my head or my heels. 

“ Yea or nay ? ” he croaked ; and I do not know which glittered 
most, his black, sunken eyes or the shining bauble in his beard. 
“ Yea or nay ? ” he repeated. 

“ Captain,” said I, willing to humour him, “ there is no need 
of haste. Let me consider this mighty matter—take it ad 
avizandum .” 

“ Yea or nay ? ” he almost shrieked, drumming with his finger¬ 
tips on the chair-seat. 

“ Well,” said I, “ if you must have it, what answer can a sane 
man give to such a farrago of absurdities ? ” 

“You will not go?” he croaked, his face deathly pale; “you 

will not go, you white-livered son of a land swab ! you-” He 

broke into a torrent of wild language, utterly exhausting himself; 
and then, with trembling hands, caught up his precious chart, 



The Bauble in the Beard 63 

folded it, and thrust it back into the bauble, which he closed 
with a snap that sounded vicious to my ears. 

Suddenly he became quite calm. 

“ For all that, Doctor Henry Mortimer,” he said, with a ludicrous 
solemnity, “ you and I are to sail the seas together; for so it was 
ordained when I came singing to your casement. Therefore, 
make haste, my lad, and put your affairs in order, for I go—I go 
very soon.” 

“To your own place,” I added, under my breath and with 
somewhat of a shudder, as I blew out the candle and quitted 
the room. 


CHAPTER V 


A SON OF ANAK 

I sought my bed and the sleep I so well deserved, but for hours 
the latter was denied me. I strove to keep my mind a blank, but 
my thoughts ever harked back to Corkran and his tale. 1 counted 
figures one after the other, and, lo ! I was thinking of the number 
of sea miles he had mentioned. I would not believe his state¬ 
ments, and yet when I came to seriously consider them there was 
nothing that was impossible. I tossed and turned, but his eager 
visage haunted me, and every detail of his accursed chart was 
plain before my eyes. How was all this to end ? Was I to bury 
him in a day or so and live as before my colourless if useful life, 
or was his last prophecy to be fulfilled ? A great dread of the 
future came upon me, a sense of uncertainty, a feeling that life 
was precarious in the extreme. I seemed to be standing on the 
verge of some abyss, whose horrid depths were shrouded in mist 
and gloom, and then imperceptibly the mist of sleep must have 
gathered on my eyeballs, for I dreamed. My dream was a chaos, 
a wild confusion of vivid colours, of pigmy black men and horned 
beasts, of ships with gleaming white sails, and cities with glittering 
yellow walls. I breathed the foetid air of swamps, and battled with 
huge weevils which sought to devour me. Through it all I had 
no terror, I felt confident and big and brave, gloriously reckless, a 
creature of the moment, without a future, without a past. There 
was no order in my visions, they came and went and were mingled 
together, but eventually I recognised that I was ever following one 
bright spot, a lodestar, which gleamed and seemed to beckon me, 

64 


A Son of Anak 65 

and just as I perceived that it was no other than the green bauble 
in Corkran’s beard I woke to find that a feeble ray of sun was 
playing on my face, that my pillow was on the floor, and that my 
feet were where my head should have been. 

I laughed, rose, and dressed hastily; then, for I feared my liver 
must be sluggish, I took a cholagogue of my own compounding, 
the which I have since used amongst the settlers with much 
success, especially in those disorders due to the heat of the 
climate and their torpid habits. 

I find, however, that I run in advance of my tale, half hinting 
at what is to follow, and so, as Corkran would have said, I must 
clew up and sail slowly. My first duty was again to visit the 
coxswain, and I found him sunk in a stupor similar to that which 
had mastered him previously. His strength was fairly well sus¬ 
tained, so I did not attempt to rouse him, but gave him in charge 
to Dame Pottinger, who, I think, was a trifle scared at his appear¬ 
ance, and no wonder. 

The next ploy was to take my mare Nancy to the smithy and 
have all her four hoofs shod, for a couple of her frogs were well 
nigh on the ground, and I feared she would go lame, albeit the 
roads were of the softest. My man usually led her thither, but 
I was minded to see this adventurous farrier of whom the vicar 
had spoken. The thought of the latter made me wonder how his 
sermon had succeeded, but I got no clue to its effect, for the 
village was silent as the grave, there being little field work in 
progress, and most of the folk abed. It was only as I neared the 
forge that signs of life were visible, and sounds of the same 
audible. 

A curl of smoke was creeping from under the door lintel and 
rising in the air. It showed blue against the pure snow on the 
roof, and joined the thin column which streamed from the crusted 
chimney top. The smith, I judged, had not been long at work, 
or the white ring round the vent would ere this have been melted. 
He was busy at the bellows. I could hear the wood creak and 
the throbbing rush of air as the leathern bag closed on it and sent 
it streaming to the furnace. A moment later I and the mare were 
at the door, over which hung a sign on which was painted a horse 

5 


66 


The Golden Kingdom 

singularly like a donkey, to judge by the length of his ears and 
his rat-like, tufted tail. The place itself was always dark, and as 
I stooped and looked in I saw the cheerful sparks flying here and 
there to the pulsatings of the great bag, the ruddy glow of the fuel 
quickening in colour as the blast struck it, and, lastly, the smith. 
The smith, I say, and of a truth he was a sight in himself. I stood 
still and stared at him, forgetting my manners, never uttering 
a morning’s greeting, wholly amazed, while Nancy nuzzled her 
nose into the small of my back and stamped with the cold. 

This is what I saw. A man of huge stature, whose enormous 
hands grasped the bellows’ handles and met and parted as he blew 
with tremendous vigour. He was in his woollen shirt, the sleeves 
of which were rolled up to the elbow, and his forearms were those 
of a Samson. White of skin and apparently hairless, bulky as 
a man’s thigh, the muscles standing out upon their extensor 
surfaces in ridges with deep grooves between, swelling larger as he 
pressed, sinking as the bag sucked and filled; verily, I had never 
seen such extremities. And the man matched them. I could 
not see him clearly, but the bulk of his figure impressed me 
mightily, bowed though he was. The vastness of his trunk and 
shoulders was imposing, and yet was not the cause of my wonder¬ 
ment. That which made me gaze at him with my mouth open 
was the fact, believe it or not as you will, that his hair was pure 
white. Not, mark you, the white of age, not the silver of an old 
man’s pow, but something like the linty locks of a little child. 
I could see his thatch plainly, though his face was hidden as he 
bent over his work. The top of his head was toward me, the 
furnace light struck upon it, and, as I have said, his hair was white, 
white and plentiful. Presently my mare whinnied, and the 
smith straightened himself and looked at me. In spite of myself, 
I gave a cry of astonishment, for the man’s eyebrows, and even his 
eyelashes, were of the same colour. There was also something 
peculiar about his face. Its expression was pleasant, with a sort 
of genial simplicity stamped upon it, but it wore a curiously rueful 
look, as if complaining silently in a good-natured way. This in 
some measure was due to the screwing up of his cheeks, for his 
eyes were scarce visible, and the man blinked and peered at me 


A Son of Anak 


6 7 

like an old owl in the daytime. His complexion was very pale, 
but not unhealthy, and his features were well formed, though on 
the same scale as the rest of him. 

For a moment I knew not what to think, and then I remembered 
descriptions I had read of such people, though I had never 
happened to see one of them. It was apparent to me that Jacob 
Little, for I recalled his name, was what is known as an albino. 
That is to say, he lacked pigment, he was devoid of the colouring 
matter which makes so much for beauty. No doubt a white 
rabbit is pleasing enough to the eye, but a white man, a wholly 
white man ! Methinks I would have laughed, but that I had seen 
evidence of his strength, and therefore I made haste to smother 
all sign of merriment. I fancied I had heard or read that such 
unfortunates tended to be weakly. If such were the case here 
was an exception, and a notable one, for now that he stood erect 
the man loomed more huge than ever, his great height being also 
apparent. I myself am built on generous lines, but before this 
giant called, as if in irony, Jacob Little, I felt myself dwarfed and 
stunted. He appeared not to have heard my exclamation, and 
I made haste to atone for my lack of common courtesy. 

“ Give you good day,” I said. 

He grunted something in reply, and then came slowly towards 
me. For the first time I saw his legs, his apron being tucked 
away to one side in his belt, and they were fit pillars for the 
superstructure they carried. I noted, however, that he was some¬ 
what ungainly, loosely built, what the Scotch in their expressive 
tongue call shoughlin. His movements were unwieldy, and his 
gait a trifle awkward. Still, he was a most formidable being, and 
the forge seemed a fitting place for such a Hercules. 

“ To be shod ? ” he asked. Plainly, he was a man of few 
words, this mighty blacksmith. 

“ Yes,” I answered ; “ four shoes, and these of the lightest.” 

He took the halter from me, tied up the mare to a hook in 
the wall, and set to work. I sat on a convenient cask and watched 
him, for I was very curious to know if his eyes were pink, this 
being often another peculiarity of such folk, owing to want of 
pigment in the choroid I could not decide the question at that 


68 


The Golden Kingdom 


time, for he kept his eyes almost closed, as if the light hurt them, 
but it was strange to see how his blindness hampered him, and 
how he poked his nose perilously close to Nancy’s hoofs and 
peered about for the tools he wanted. Presently he had the 
metal in the furnace, and, to aid him, I took a turn at the bellows 
as he had no assistant. He thanked me by another grunt and a 
beam of satisfaction. A merciful Providence had placed a double 
check on this man’s strength, a feeble vision and a mild spirit. 
I considered it a wise dispensation, and more especially when 
Jacob came to handle the sledge hammer. The latter was out of 
all proportion to the work—a very massive tool, or rather, weapon, 
which he swung as though it had been a walking-cane. 

Despite his near-sightedness, he never missed his mark. He 
would take the bearings of the glowing metal on the anvil, and 
then down would clang the hammer full upon it, and the sparks 
shower on every side. But the finest thing was to see the play of 
his muscles, to watch his great frame in rhythmic motion, to study 
the capacity of his chest, the girth of his whole body. There was 
no flabbiness about him. Raw, hard, and loose-jointed, such 
were his qualities. 

I soon perceived he was no master of his craft—indeed, he was 
rather a clumsy workman; but he made no mistakes, nailed on the 
shoes sufficiently well, and did not injure the hoofs. I thanked 
him, and asked what was to pay. He pondered over the matter 
as though I had asked him about the state of his soul, and then 
named a very paltry sum, hesitating, as though he had demanded 
over much. 

“ Come, Master Little,” said I, “ you will find it hard to earn 
your bread at this rate of charge, more especially in Bishop. 
Solingford. He smiled cheerily, blinking at me as before. 

“I am new to the trade,” said he; “indeed-” he paused 

irresolute. 

I noticed then that he was much younger than I had sup¬ 
posed, and that his speech belied him. This great fellow was no 
’prentice out of articles, even if he were a blacksmith from choice. 
It seemed to me that I was dealing with a gentleman of sorts, at 
least a person of some breeding and education. Here was a new 



A Son of Anak 69 

mystery. As the vicar had exclaimed, “ Was the world coming 
to an end ? ” 

“Indeed,” I said, finishing his sentence for him, “you make a 
very fair job of it, considering you were never born to wield 
hammers, manipulate pincers, and blow bellows.” 

It was ludicrous to see the surprise on his face. 

“ How know you that, sir ? ” he asked. 

“ Pooh ! ” I replied lightly ; “ I am the village doctor, man, 
whose business it is to know everything. For instance, I know 
you came here with the intent of shoeing Squire Pumphret’s brute 
of a stallion, and hang me ! ” said I, carried away by admiration of 
his superb thews and sinews, “ hang me, if I don’t believe you’ll 
do it 1 ” 

“ Why, of course I will,” he said simply. 

“ Have you seen the horse ? ” I asked. 

“ No,” he answered; “but he will feel me,” and he stood and 
clenched and unclenched his great hams of hands, whereon the 
knuckles were as large as filberts. 

“ I can believe that,” said I. “ And do you know, Master 
Little, I am glad I am not the horse.” 

His whole face wrinkled with laughter. He was like an over¬ 
grown, good-humoured boy, this son of Anak; as easily tickled 
with a mild joke as a fat trout is with cautious finger-tips, and I 
took an amazing fancy to him. All at once, however, his visage 
became rueful, as before, and he heaved a prodigious sigh. 

“Heavens!” said I, in mock alarm, “you should be your 
own bellows.” 

I thought he would straightway take a fit. He laughed silently 
till he shook and his eyes disappeared altogether, and then he 
came to himself, as woe-begone as ever. 

“ Good day,” said I, laying his proper fee on the anvil and 
preparing to depart. 

“ Stop ! ” he exclaimed, catching my arm, “I like you, doctor; 
I like a man who can make me laugh, for then I forget my 
misery.” 

“Egad!” thought I, “but Vulcan is going to make a confidant 
of me.” 


7° 


The Golden Kingdom 

“ Misery,” I repeated, “are you ill ?” 

“ No,” said he, with a most comical face and air of grievance, 
“ no, but I am too big.” 

I had much ado to keep sober sides. 

“That is not all,” he continued. “ Consider my name, and look 
at this.” 

He touched his hair and his eyebrows in turn. The man was 
pathetic though ridiculous. 

“Come, come, sir,” said I; “you are as God made you, and if 
Nature has been niggardly in some respects, she has been lavish 
in others.” 

“Yes,” he answered, “you are right; I thank you,” and he held 
out his fist to me. I placed my hand in his somewhat gingerly, 
and, as it was, had it nearly reduced to pulp. 

“Why, man!” I cried, “you do not know your own strength.” 

He nodded and blinked genially. 

“You see how it is, doctor,” he said, “ though I know not why 
I should tell you all this; I was the youngest son of seven, my 
father a poor clergyman who could give me nothing but some 
schooling. Fortunately, I alone am of such a cursed complexion, 
and people made a mock of me ; but now they do not do so.” 

“ I should say not,” I rejoined, “ for if so, methinks you would 
make a pulp of them.” 

Again he laughed till he shook. 

“You speak the truth,” he continued. “ I was born big and 1 
said to myself, if I can be nothing else I will be strong, and that 
is why I have taken to the smith’s trade. I have no brains, I am 
half blind, my hair is white, but, doctor, I can bend this iron bar 
into a hoop.” He picked up a thin piece of metal and without 
making use of his knee fashioned it into a curve, apparently with¬ 
out much effort, though I remarked that afterwards beads of sweat 
stood out upon his forehead. 

“ But,” said I, “ what is your object in all this ? You must have 
some purpose besides the wish to scare those who may jape 
at you?” 

“ Oh, yes,” he replied slowly, “ I have a purpose, certainly I 
have. I am looking for a man stronger than myself.” 


A Son of Anak 71 

“ Whew ! ” I whistled ; “ but that will be hard to find, man. 
Tell me, what will you do if you find him?” 

“ I have never thought of that,” he answered simply; “ I will 
know when we are set face to face.” 

“ May I be there to see,” I answered lightly, and never thought 
that one day I was indeed to witness the very scene, nor dreamed 
what was to hang upon the issue of that meeting. 


CHAPTER VI 

THE SHOEING OF THE STALL/ON 

I returned home vastly amused at this encounter. It appeared 
that I had now made two acquaintances—the one a madman, the 
other a simpleton; the one without any head of hair at all, 
the other with hair which dye alone would make and keep 
presentable; the one hankering after a fabled Kingdom of 
Gold with an outlandish name, in an outlandish place, the 
other seeking a man more powerful than himself, without rhyme or 
reason. To be sure the smith might have donned a wig, but I 
shrewdly suspected he was rather proud of his peculiarities despite 
his outcry. It is strange how some men—ay, and women— love 
an eccentricity, and dote on any means of securing distinction. I 
stabled the mare and hurried in for breakfast, still chuckling, 
and there with his back to the fireplace, bluff, bloated, and shew¬ 
ing signs of a debauch in his patchy colour, moist eyes, and 
vinous nose, was the squire himself. 

“So, sir," said he, without giving me time to utter a word, 
“you go about smiling while my poor wife lies dead in her 
coffin.” 

I was so taken aback at this unexpected attack that I made 
no answer. 

“ Further,” he went on irritably, “ I hear you were keeping 
low company on the very night you closed Mistress Pumphret’s 
eyes, and have been harbouring a vagabond in this house, of 
which I am the landlord. Now, sir, not a word, not a word. 
But I have suspected you for some time, and this cannot go on.” 


72 


The Shoeing of the Stallion 73 

He tapped with his cane on the floor and finished, flushed and 
breathless. 

“ Squire Pumphret,” said I quietly, “ it is apparent you wish to 
pick a quarrel with me for no other reason that I can imagine but 
that you desire your nephew to take over my place and work.” 

He was about to speak, but I silenced him with a gesture of the 
hand. “ No one, sir,” I continued, “ had a greater respect for 
your lately deceased wife than I had ; but pulling a long face and 
going about drowned in grief will not bring her back to life and is 
no criterion of feeling. He who makes the most display is not 
always the most touched.” I could have said nothing more 
unfortunate. 

“ What! ” cried he with an oath, “ do you throw my sorrow in 
my teeth ! do you presume to suggest that, that, that—I make a 
pretence of-” 

“Hold, sir!” I exclaimed sternly, though I felt half sorry 
for the forlorn, drunken figure before me. “ You know full well 
that such was not my meaning. Let your nephew come, I am 
prepared to stand on my own legs; but you will find, sir, that a 
scruple of practice is worth a pound weight of mere tutor’s lore.” 

“ Ay, ay, he’ll come, he’ll come, Doctor Mortimer. I’ll teach 
you to turn your back on the Hall when I ask you to stay, and to 
keep me kicking my heels of a cold night in your porch ! Mean¬ 
while you can bundle out of this snug house and find a roof-tree 
of which I do not take the rent.” 

There he held me in the hollow of his hand, for he owned nearly 
every cottage in the village and was as much a ruler as the Great 
Mogul. 

“ Considering your manners,” I answered, “ I have no desire 
to stay a moment longer in any house of yours. Indeed, 
were it not that you are a man advanced in years and none 
too steady of hand, I would teach you the risks you run in speak¬ 
ing thus to any gentleman. I have, however, a patient under my 
charge here who is not fit to be moved, and therefore I refuse to 
quit till he can go also.” 

“You defy me?” stuttered the squire. 

“ No, sir,” I thundered, my rage getting the better of me; “ but I 



74 The Golden Kingdom 

order you out of this, and the sooner you go the better for yourself!” 
I pointed to the door, and, after glaring at me a moment, he went, 
vowing vengeance at every step and threatening me with the law. 

I was much perturbed in spirit after he had gone. Grief and drink 
had made an irritable, suspicious sot of him, and this nephew of his 
was like to prove a thorn in my flesh. Still, I was not to be 
badgered by any squire, even if he happened to be the receiver of 
my rent; and yet my proper pride was getting me into an ugly 
mess. My pride, do I say ? nay, rather, that tattered old rip who in 
an ill moment I had succoured and whom I now cursed with the 
greatest fluency and vigour. I dated all my troubles from his 
coming, forgetting that no doubt the squire had been pledged to 
further his nephew’s interests long ago, and had but found an 
excuse for putting his designs into effect. I became very dolorous 
despite my cholagogue, called myself a failure, and felt little 
inclined for my work, especially as the weather had again become 
inclement and heavy flakes were falling softly from a leaden sky. 
In time, however, I shook myself free from this bout of cowardly 
melancholy, broke my fast in the hurried manner common to 
disciples of yEsculapius, and got me out of doors to see my village 
cases. In the first place I visited the vicar, and found that his 
precious sermon, though well meant, had done more harm than 
good. He had been so full of his theme that it seemed he had not 
devoted sufficient time to an eulogy of the late Dame Pumphret, at 
least so the squire affirmed, and rated him soundly for his neglect. 

“ Think of it! ” said my good friend, spreading out his plump 
hands and bunches of fat fingers, and with a look of comical 
dismay, “ think of it, fifteen minutes by the sand glass I devoted 
to that woman, and she as barren as my poll! What more could 
I say, and with such an allegory to follow ? Harry, my boy, I 
am undone, and Amelia and the dear brats must starve. I shall 
be glad of the husks soon, and how will they keep my ribs 
covered, think you ? ” 

“ Nonsense, man! ” said I, though to be sure he had a twinkle 
in his eye all the time he spoke, and needed not my remon¬ 
strances ; “ art but a humbug, Master Spetticue, and you have 
not yet told me how they swallowed the allegory.” 


The Shoeing of the Stallion 75 

“ Faith, Harry,” said he, “ it was old Pumphret who came nigh 
swallowing me. It seems that he got it into his fuddled brain 
that as your mariner was the unfortunate in the parable, yourself 
the good Samaritan, myself the priest, and the villagers the 
Levite, that the only cast remaining for him was that of the 
thieves amongst whom the poor wretch fell. Thus there has 
been tribulation upon tribulation, and my plan has failed. You 
will find them all as sour as butter-milk this morning, and nothing 
will pacify them but to have what’s his name clapped in the 
stocks and well pelted. Serve him right, say I, for being such an 
apple of discord—a very rotten apple, too, according to your own 
account.” 

“ Maybe,” I answered, “ but the man has claimed my hospi¬ 
tality, and, moreover, is still at death’s door; so if they want him 
they can come and take him, only they must settle with me first.” 

The parson shook his head and groaned dismally, being 
naturally of a timorous disposition, but I knew I had his sym¬ 
pathy, and I made a jest of things, though I felt far from merry. 
Nor was I cheered in the course of the day. People had too 
little work on hand, idle tongues were wagging, and one door was 
actually slammed in my face, from which I argued that the patient 
within was no worse and probably better. This world, I have 
long since found, is governed by expediency rather than principle. 

The next few days were in themselves uneventful. Corkran 
continued in his strange stupor, and I kept the door locked upon 
him when I was out. He appeared to be gathering his strength 
again, though his brain was clouded, and he could only be roused 
when food or drink, and more especially the latter, was to be 
forced down his gullet. Still, he was not playing a part, of that 
I felt certain. 

The squire’s wife was duly buried, and I deemed it incumbent 
upon me to be present at her funeral, though I would have done 
better to have stayed away. The folk looked askance at me, the 
squire was sullen and unapproachable, and the poor vicar prayed 
fervently that all murmurings and grievings, angers and jealousies, 
uncharitableness and suspicions, harboured amongst and besetting 
those who yet remained, might be entombed in the sepulture of 


76 The Golden Kingdom 

forgetfulness. I felt a man apart—a creature shunned by his 
neighbours, and yet I had striven to do my duty by them so far 
as in me lay. I had humoured and ordered, had soothed and 
rallied, had warned and entreated many of them in my time, and 
this was what I had come to in the long run. They had so little 
faith in me that when I did something a trifle out of the common, 
they suspected me at once and gave me the cold shoulder. I 
confess I went home sorrowfully that day, and found no pleasure 
even in my books. It is scarcely fair, howbeit, that I should 
inflict my humours and vapourings on my readers (if, indeed, I 
chance to have any such), and I opine they would rather hear 
of how Squire Pumphret sought to occupy his mind, and of what 
befell in the smithy of Bishop-Solingford. 

It was, I think, on the second day after the burial, Corkran 
being in statu quo , and the weather still very wintry with no sign 
of frost, that my stable man came running in to tell me that 
Hercules, the stallion, was to be shod, or at least that the smith 
was to attempt to shoe him—a very different matter. I inquired 
at what hour the spectacle was to take place, and so arranged my 
affairs that I was early on the scene, and was greeted quite 
affectionately by the huge smith, who was wholly unmoved at the 
prospect before him, and appeared to relish the chance of meeting 
such an opponent as the great horse. In virtue of my profession, 
and by invitation of Jacob Little himself, I took up a post of 
honour within the shed, at the door of which a crowd of interested 
spectators had already begun to gather. 

“ Will they not obscure the light ? ” I asked. 

“ Well,” replied Jacob, “if so it is all the better. I see best 
in the dark—indeed, that is another reason why the forge work 
suits me.” 

“ To be sure,” I answered, vexed at having put so idle a 
question, for a moment’s thought would have shown me that the 
wider his pupils the better would he see, as it is when bright 
beams fall upon the eye that its wonderful mechanism, its 
delicate curtain, shuts off access of light, while in darkness the 
screen is drawn back, and permits a flood of what light there is to 
reach the retina. Even then the odd idea came to me that 


The Shoeing of the Stallion 77 

when the smith met the object of his quest it would be well for 
him if the encounter took place in the gloaming or at night, and 
I amused myself by imagining how this strange faculty might be 
of service to him. I fear my thoughts ran riot in those days, for 
certain it is that I never became acquainted with a man of any 
interest but that I built up tales about him, and made him a 
hero or a villain on the spot. Of a verity I was of a curious 
disposition, and to this day remain inquisitive. 

A murmur from the throng at the door announced the approach 
of the stallion, and presently I could hear the squire’s voice 
bidding the people stand apart. They formed a double line with 
a wide lane between, and old Pumphret came bustling in, scowled 
at me, and nodded amiably to Jacob Little, who showed him none 
of that cringing servility with which most of the hinds about were 
wont to flatter his vanity and encourage his self-complacency. 
A young man of elegant figure, dressed with extreme care, not to 
say foppishness, followed him in and surveyed me with an air 
which plainly remarked, “ Who is this large, rough, uncouth 
fellow, who looks aggressive, and whose clothes are cursedly 
ill-cut?” Instinctively I knew him to be my future rival, the 
squire’s nephew from London. 

My opinion was quickly confirmed. 

“ Stand clear there, dam’ee ! ” shouted Pumphret to the crowd 
without; “ stand clear, as you value your skins and bones ! ” 

The lane widened, and I heard the sound of a snort. 

“ To take every care,” cried the squire, anxious to justify him¬ 
self, “I have brought my nephew, a skilled chirurgeon from 
London, who will do what may be necessary in case of accident.” 

“ The devil he will! ” thought I, and glanced at the smith, who 
shook his massive head slightly, though he blinked genially on 
old Pumphret and the youth of fripperies beside him. 

I confess I was hurt when the crowd cheered this announce¬ 
ment, but I remained quietly in my corner and bided my time, 
while my supplanter stared with all his eyes at the enormous 
figure of the smith, compared with whom he was as a puppet. 
The whole scene was indeed peculiar—the patch of grey sky and 
miry road, the latter lined by two rows of ruddy faces, all viewed 


The Golden Kingdom 


78 

through the open door. Within, a boy, a very proud boy, heaving 
away at the bellows as if his life depended on it; a fire glowing 
red-hot; the huge smith, with his superb arms folded across his 
mighty chest; the squire, boozy of visage and clumsy of figure ; 
the airy trifle called a chirurgeon, myself glooming in the back¬ 
ground, a truss of straw on the floor for some reason or other, 
and the all-pervading odour of a forge, the smell of rusty iron 
scraps, of pungent smoke and singed leather. 

The crowd had been jabbering at a great rate, discussing the 
blacksmith with awe and wonder, myself with scant courtesy, the 
stallion with dread, and the coming event with a fearful expect¬ 
ancy, but all of a sudden a hubbub arose, and there were screams 
and cries mingled with the snortings of a scared and spirited 
horse, and the curses of those who led him. We all hurried to 
the door, and there was the stallion, rearing and plunging, with 
two men at his head and a clear space about his heels. 

He was an ugly customer, the red visible in his eyes and 
nostrils, his muzzle curling back to show his teeth, his ears flat on 
his neck, and the whole vast bulk of him in tumultuous motion. 
It was madness, and worse than madness, to ask any man to shoe 
the brute, and I would have protested but that I knew it would 
serve no purpose. As the horse reared he struck out with his 
forefeet in a manner exceeding dangerous, but some one caught 
him cunningly on the flank with a whip lash, and he made a 
sudden bound and plunge which scattered the little group at the 
door, and landed him inside the shed, the man holding one of 
the ropes being nearly crushed against the wall in passing through. 
Once within, puzzled no doubt by the sudden change, Hercules 
grew quiet and suffered himself to be fastened to the hook in the 
wall by a very thick piece of rope and two straps of leather 
passing from his head stall. I perceived that the truss of straw 
was on the ground close beside him, and wondered what its use 
might be. 

“ Now, Master Little,” said the squire, cuffing the ears of an 
adventurous brat who had run in after the horse, “ I want 
Hercules here shod, but God forbid I should compel any man to 
face his heels. The first who tried it, he being a free agent, 


The Shoeing of the Stallion 79 

is now a cripple; the second, acting also by his own desire, 
is dead ; you are the third, but-” 

“You may save your breath, sir,” answered Jacob, who was 
surveying the stallion with a look of chastened joy; “ I came here 
to shoe this horse and I am going to shoe him, even if he had 
before now killed every man in the parish.” 

“ Hoity toity! ” quoth Pumphret, “ here’s a devilish in¬ 
dependent fellow, nephy. Well, well, go to work, sir, go to 
work, and Master Edwin Fairfax here will set your broken bones, 
and patch you up if you come to grief.” 

“ Haw,” said Master Edwin, “ deucedly large bones to set; ’pon 
honour, uncle, I fancy not your commission.” 

“ Haw! ” thought I, “ methinks hee-haw would suit this ass 
better,” for I hate those affected city fops, with their clipped 
expressions and mincing manners; and then I had no time to 
think further, for Jacob Little had gone to work with a vengeance. 
The first thing to do was to take a measurement of the stallion’s 
hoofs, for no one had ever got the length of beating out shoes for 
him, and there was thus no standard to guide the artificer. It 
had been the horse that had done the beating on previous 
occasions, beating in ribs and beating out brains, but none had 
tackled Hercules as Jacob did, and none like Jacob had ever 
laid hand on the great Lincolnshire thoroughbred. The smith’s 
first movement was to slacken the rope and straps so as to give 
them greater length, and this he did very cautiously and remark¬ 
ably quickly, the hook being set in a dark corner of the shed, 
and the horse for a wonder remaining passive. Then taking off 
his apron, and clad only in his shoes, hosen, knee breeches, and 
woollen, sleeveless shirt, Jacob Little did a strange thing. He 
walked back a short space along the wall, crouched double, 
and then with a rapid run in an oblique line hurled the full 
weight of his body on the stallion’s chest, and flung his arms 
round its forelegs. Hercules backed instantly till rope and 
straps were taut, and thus his head was fixed and the smith 
safe from his crushing teeth. Then began a tremendous struggle. 
It was the man’s object to throw the horse, to pitch it over on 
its side upon the straw, and it was the stallion’s object to defeat 



8 o 


The Golden Kingdom 

him. The brute tried to rear, but in vain; its head was kept 
stretched out by the halters, its forelegs gripped in a mighty 
grasp. It strove to press forward, but here again was foiled, 
encountering all the strength and weight of its adversary, who 
was lost if the fastenings slackened or gave way. With body 
bent, feet firmly planted wide apart, and one shoulder thrust 
against the chest muscles of the horse, Jacob stood immovable 
as a rock. Hercules snorted with pain and rage, the foam 
flecked his muzzle, he was the incarnation of impotent wrath. 
Then suddenly he changed his tactics and swung to the side. 
But the smith was ready for him. He could not check the 
movement wholly, but he could and he did keep the animal 
at the full length of its tether, and consequently helpless in some 
measure. Hither and thither the horse drove the hinder part of 
its body, mostly by convulsive bounds or jerks, while its tail 
stood straight on end, and a dew of sweat broke out upon its 
withers. Then its snortings changed to a scream of fear, and any 
sound more dreadful than the cry of a terrified horse is difficult to 
imagine. The folk came flocking in from outside, the squire 
danced about in a frenzy, fearful for the safety of his brute’s 
legs, the famous chirurgeon grew pale of cheek, having no doubt 
visions of what might be required of him, and qualms as to his 
surgical capacity, and then in a twinkling it was done, Hercules 
lost control of himself, and began lashing out with his hindlegs 
in every direction. 

Now was the smith’s time. He must have felt his opportunity, 
for with one mighty heave he wrenched the forelegs off the 
ground, and as at the moment both of the free hoofs were high 
in the air, the vast bulk of the horse crashed heavily upon the 
straw, at first twisted, and then flat upon its side. It may seem 
incredible, but, believe it or not as you will, the smith so far was 
the victor, though only to a certain extent. As the stallion fell 
he fell also, and one of his arms became somehow pinned beneath 
its chest. There they lay, the horse for a wonder apparently 
unharmed, with its head and neck dragged upwards by the strain 
upon them, Jacob Little with his white hair pressed against the 
creature’s black chest, and both remaining perfectly still. The 


The Shoeing of the Stallion 81 

smith made a movement to free his imprisoned left arm, and in 
a moment the horse was struggling desperately. It was clear 
that the man, hampered as he was, could scarcely hope to keep 
his grasp upon its forelegs. He desisted from his attempt, and 
at once the horse became quiet. 

“ It seems, sir,” said I to the squire, “ that the time has now 
come for the chirurgeon to act.” 

I was amply repaid for all the slights put upon me by the look 
on the face of the elegant from London. 

“ Zounds ! ” he exclaimed, “ do you take me for a dirty horse 
doctor ? ” 

“No, sir,” said I, unkindly I admit; “but I perceive you are 
a coward.” 

He flushed hotly, while the squire was speechless with anger; 
but I had no time to note further the effects of my shaft. I ran 
forward, there being in reality little danger, and succeeded by a 
quick wrench in dragging the smith away from Hercules, though 
he was mortal heavy. The moment the stallion was free it rolled 
upon its back, kicking vigorously, and then would have turned 
over and been upon its legs again had not Jacob Little, who 
seemed none the worse, sprang up and thrown the noose of a 
rope round its hindlegs. This he drew tight and fastened the 
end of the rope to a strong wooden post near the forge. 

“ Stop it! ” cried old Pumphret, “ you will hurt him; do you 
hear me, you impudent fellow ? ” 

Jacob Little merely blinked kindly at him, and got a similar 
fastening on the poor brute’s forelegs. 

The squire blustered; but what could he do to check this huge 
impassive man, with whom every one else, except perhaps Master 
Fairfax, appeared to be in sympathy ? 

“This is not shoeing,” shouted the squire, “it is cruelty; you 
take an unfair advantage of my horse.” 

In his excitement he had come close up to the stallion. 

“ Indeed! ” was all the smith said, and, stooping, he cut the 
noose and patted Hercules upon the haunch. 

It was a sight to see the squire skip out of the way as the 
animal lashed out again in a fury. It could do nothing else, 

6 


82 


The Golden Kingdom 

however, being effectually tethered and hobbled. Then, indeed, 

I saw Jacob’s plan. He was going to master the beast leg by leg. 
And he did so, despite its struggles and the protestations of its 
owner, who, however, had the sense to keep quiet when he saw 
that no harm was done or intended. In spite of all Hercules 
could do, and he also quickly resigned himself to the inevitable, 
Jacob Little measured each hind hoof, and forged and beat out 
a shoe for each. It was wonderful to watch him. It was as 
though he were rejoicing in his victory and strength, and he 
wielded the great sledge-hammer as though it had been a toy. 
The red sparks scattered at his blows, the proud boy blew his 
bellows till he well-nigh burst, the crowd gasped and gaped with 
astonishment, the squire mopped his brow, the famous surgeon 
regained his natural pasty colour, and I chuckled inwardly, albeit 
I knew this was not the end. 

Jacob, no whit abashed, pared and prepared each virgin hoof, 
fitted on the heavy shoes and drove home the nails, working 
slowly but carefully. The stallion lay almost like a dead thing, 
though the smith had eased its head. 

The fight was out of it, however; it had met its match, and 
more than its match. The only signs of life it gave after a wild 
burst of rage were its tremblings, the quiverings of its nostrils, 
and the sound of its breathings. When he had finished off the 
hind hoofs Jacob tackled the others, and though his work took a 
long time, being done in a difficult and constrained position, not 
one of the spectators thought of leaving. He finished at last to 
his satisfaction, and, taking down a whip from the wall, gave 
Hercules one sound cut with it across the back. The horse 
promptly got upon its knees, and so to its legs, and after shaking 
itself stood quaking in every limb, and gazing timidly out of its 
blood-streaked, rolling eye. Its whole aspect was changed, it was 
cowed and crushed in spirit. Had it been a woman, ay, or even 
a man, it would have burst into tears. As it was, I am not sure 
but that it wept in its own way. The smith patted it, felt its legs, 
straightened out its mane, put his tools away, turned and blinked 
at us all, and then politely bade us good-day. 

There was nothing for it but to go, the villagers first, then the 


The Shoeing of the Stallion 83 

squire and his nephew, then the squire’s servants and the horse, 
the latter hanging its head and looking most disconsolate, while 
its shoes drummed at every hoof-stroke on the hard earthen floor 
of the smithy, and lastly myself, but not before I had gone up to 
Jacob Little and offered him my hand. 

“ Squeeze it if you will,” said I; “ but hang me ! if you are not 
a man of your word.” 

“I told you so, doctor,” was all his reply, and he dealt very 
gently with my fingers, I think by way of thanks. 

Thus was shod the terror of Bishop-Solingford, and I doubt 
not that the tale is still told in every parish throughout whose 
acres Hercules, Squire Pumphret’s stallion, had spread his fame. 


CHAPTER VII 


A STATE OF SIEGE 

I had burned my boats, and what was I to do now ? I had 
insulted the squire, and mocked his precious nephew, though 
perhaps my position with the villagers was improved. I debated 
in my mind as to whether it was likely this Master Fairfax would 
send me a challenge. Not that I greatly cared. In Holland I 
had been careful to take lessons with the small sword, and, by way 
of diversion in the summer time, was wont to train my pistols on 
a mark. Thus I knew to a nicety my powers in those directions, 
and I fancied I had a stronger wrist and a truer eye than the 
elegant chirurgeon could boast. I might have saved myself 
the consideration of such a meeting, for old Pumphret was set 
on greater things. He was resolved to turn me out of house and 
home, and to make an example of my tatterdemalion. 

I had an inkling that something was about to happen, for my 
reception in the village grew more and more churlish. A few, 
indeed, stood by their old leech, and of these I have ever thought 
kindly, some of them actually having no need of my services at 
the time. The majority, however, feared and served the squire, 
and took sides with him. In vain the vicar prophesied evil, and 
begged me to get rid of Corkran in some way or other. He 
was all for peace. So also was I, but with this difference—that 
whereas he would have had me sue for it on any terms, I was 
resolved to secure it with honour or woo its counterpart. 

Abel Pike became openly offensive to me, till one day I laid 
him by the heels, after shaking his beer-scented breath well-nigh 

84 


A State of Siege 85 

out of him. The act, I think, precipitated the storm, which 
broke in this wise. 

The coxswain had mended, but was yet confined to the box- 
bed, and was in a dull, heavy, and confused state. Still, his heart 
had recovered tone, and I opined his silence was rather due to 
sulkiness or the revolving of mighty thoughts than to any dregs of 
the stupor. I had not meddled with any of his belongings—save 
the mark!—with the exception of the sticky drug mass, which 
I had removed from his breeches pocket, fearing he would do 
himself much harm if he fell to chewing at it again. Though 
better, he was in no way fit to rise, still less to take the road, 
especially as it snowed every night with a calm persistence, 
clearing generally about second cockcrow and remaining clear 
during the brief day. 

One morning, after having eaten, I was sitting disconsolate 
with no heart for work, when I became aware of a tapping on the 
window-pane. A figure stood without—the figure of a woman 
with her face concealed by a hood. I rose, crossed the room, 
and opened the casement. 

“ What do you want ? ” I asked. 

“ Hush ! ” said she hurriedly. “ I but come to tell you to 
save yourself. The squire has a writ out against you, and 
they are about to turn you out, and to seize the evil fellow 
who lodges with you. Not that I care for him, but make haste 
and go.” 

With that she was gone herself; but I had recognised her voice 
and was touched by her kindness. She was a poor lass who had 
been wronged; but I had managed—for we of the lancet have 
sometimes more power than those of the cassock, or even the 
law-ledger—I had managed, I say, to get the man to make her 
a decent woman, and so saved her from shame. She had not 
heretofore shown much gratitude, perhaps because, so strange are 
women, her babe had died at birth ; but now, at some small 
risk to herself, she had come to warn me. 

“Go,” she had said. “Fly,” she meant; quit the place as 
though I had done wrong, and leave the queer old rogue in the 
box-bed to the tender mercies of a superstitious set of oafs ! 


86 The Golden Kingdom 

I thanked her in my heart, but such was not my intention. 
Instead I went and locked both outer doors, bolting that in front 
and barring that which entered on the garden, and then sat 
quietly down and waited. Corkran and I were alone in the 
house, Dame Pottinger being abroad, for which I was not sorry. 
It is ill to be hampered with females, youthful or aged, at such 
a time. I did not secure the door of the sick-room, for it might 
be needful to beat a hurried retreat into it; but I remained in the 
front room, and wondered if there was any way of scaring off my 
coming assailants by threatening them with volatile poison or 
some other concoction which would appeal to their dense brains 
and fear of learning. I knew very well they held me in some 
repute, while I shrewdly guessed that they were mortally afraid of 
my unbidden guest. 

No scheme, however, presented itself to my mind, except the 
somewhat feeble one of producing an appalling stench with 
asafoetida and some other savoury compounds I kept in the 
cupboard. These I reserved for dire necessity and, indeed, had 
little time to do anything, for with their footsteps muffled by the 
snow, my persecutors were presently before the house. There 
was a goodly crowd of them, led by the squire in person, with 
Master Edwin Fairfax in attendance, perchance as a precaution 
against eventualities, as I grimly thought, for I was not to be 
trifled with in my then mood. There were Pumphret’s own body 
servants, and the watchman from the Hall, the workers at the 
home-farm, a fair proportion of Bishop-Solingfordites, to give 
them a high-sounding title, with Abel Pike in prominence, and a 
sprinkling of boys ripe for any mischief. The squire and the 
surgeon wore their swords, and some of the rest had the 
impudence to appear with pitchforks. Abel, the sour rascal, had 
a weapon of his own, a rusty pike, which in bygone days had 
belonged to some Parliamentarian, and had found a resting-place 
at The Green Frog, where many stories had gathered about it. 
I remembered I had more than once lanced a boil for him. No 
doubt he hoped to be able to repay me old scores by prodding 
me with the pike, and letting out, not yellow matter, but my good 
red blood. 


A State of Siege 87 

“ Malediction! ” thought I, “ would that I had shaken the teeth 
as well as the breath out of the ill-conditioned sot! ” 

I never budged from my chair, but sat and watched them 
gathering in the middle of the street, and wondered what they 
would do. As yet I was not angry, I was only beginning to be 
annoyed. Presently the squire strode forwards and beat with his 
staff upon the oak. 

“ Doctor Mortimer ! ” he cried, “ Doctor Mortimer 1 ” as he had 
done on the eventful night when his wife died. 

I went over to the window and opened it. 

“ Give you good day, squire,” I said quietly, “ may I ask your 
pleasure, and the meaning of this assemblage ? ” 

“ It bodes you no harm, sir,” he answered civilly enough. “ True, 
I require the use of mine own cottage, but you can leave it at 
Lady’s Day in due order; none can say I am hard upon my 
tenants.” 

“ And that’s a truth ! ” cried a voice. 

“ Three cheers for the squoire ! ” shouted Abel Pike, and a thin 
and disconnected series of huzzas followed his call. 

This was a shrewd stroke of old Pumphret’s, and methought I 
smelt the town rat in it. 

“ I thank you for your remarkable clemency,” I replied 
ironically ; “ but is it customary to be attended by an armed 
retinue when you impart such very ordinary information ? I 
confess I had thought it a private matter ’twixt you and me.” 

“ And so ’tis,” he rejoined bluffly, “ but there is a public 
business as well which has brought us trooping here, and is the 
occasion of our weapons. You are harbouring within some lewd 
fellow, a vagrant and graceless sinner, whom we have reason to 
understand is on an ill errand.” 

“ A Papisher, belike ! ” cried Abel Pike, who having no religion 
of his own, was fond of disputing on religious themes with much 
blasphemy and beer-drinking. 

“Papist or no,” said the squire, who was sober and would not 
commit himself, “ this almoner is a suspicious party, a danger to 
the lieges, a singer of profane songs upon the Sabbath day, a 
broken and landless man, who must be delivered up to me, who 


88 


The Golden Kingdom 

am a justice and will see to it that he is well flogged, and turned 
out of Bishop-Solingford.” 

The crowd, growing ever larger, cheered vociferously. This 
diversion came as a godsend to them these weary winter days. 

“ Indeed ! ” I answered. “ Now listen to me, Squire Pumphret, 
and all of you. In what has been said I only know one word 
that is true. The man, poor devil, has been called landless, and 
so he is, for he follows the sea, a good trade I take it, and 
one whose 'prentices have made England. Landless he is, but 
hatless, penniless, and well-nigh shoeless also.” I had half a 
mind to add hairless, but refrained. 

“ He came whining to me, cold, famished and miserable, on an 
inclement night, and I gave him food and shelter. His mis¬ 
fortunes had touched his brain, hence his singing and turbulence, 
if you can call it so. Since then he has lain at death’s door, and 
is still in bed, and weak and worn. You, who have warm chimney- 
seats and hearths, and a plenty for your bellies, and clothes to 
your backs, have you no pity for a grey-bearded wanderer, who, as 
I am a truthful man, had never a stitch between his coat and his 
skin ? ” 

I saw that my words had due effect. 

“ The poor creature ! ” a woman cried, and “ This bitter cold 
weather too ! ” another exclaimed, but even as I began to hope 
Abel Pike ruined all. 

“ A fine tale! ” he sneered. “ Hath he fixed you with his 
eye so that you lie as well as strike down children ? Did I 
not see the Papisher myself, with the scapular in his beard and 
the drink in his eye and the filthy song in his mouth ? Go 
to, Doctor Mortimer, we be not vules ! ” and he shook his head 
waggishly. 

“Sir,” said I, appealing directly to the squire, “will you believe 
that man whom you know to be a drunken, heartless loafer, or 
will you believe me, who has lived here hitherto without reproach, 
and my father before me ? ” 

Master Fairfax whispered hurriedly into his uncle's ear. 

“ That is beside the question, Doctor Mortimer,” replied old 
Pumphret, as though repeating his lesson. 


A State of Siege 89 

“I did not ask your nephew,” I answered pointedly, “ I 
addressed you, sir.” 

Some in the throng behind him laughed, and the squire flared 
into a rage. 

“ I am not here to bandy words,” he called out loudly. “ Hand 
over this rapscallion to be dealt with as the law may direct, and 
let us begone.” 

“You forget,” I said in desperation, “that the man is sick and 
under my charge. Would you have a physician neglect, ay, 
and more than neglect, his patient ? ” 

“ Dam’ee, sir! ” suddenly shrilled out the elegant in a queer, 
piping voice, “ did you not neglect Mistress Pumphret on her 
death-bed ? ” 

“ By the Lord, sir,” I answered, very calmly but full of con¬ 
suming wrath, “ whatever I did I shall not neglect to make you 
eat your own words.” 

“ Oons ! ” cried Abel Pike, who picked up all manner of oaths 
from occasional horsemen putting up at the inn, “ the Papisher 
has cast a spell on him. Whoi, he be no more ill than I be, he 
bees in hiding; but us’ll drag him out as if ’twere a burrowed 
badger! ” 

“ And a sorry nose thou’lt have if thou triest, my friend Pike,” 
I cried, mimicking him. 

“ Zounds ! ” shouted Pumphret, “ but this is threatening 
language; this is treason, sir, you set at naught the constituted 
Powers.” 

“ A fig for your Powers! ” I exclaimed, utterly disgusted, and 
with my patience at an end. “ I see you are a pack of cowardly 
curs, bent on worrying an old and feeble sea-dog, who, if he could 
show his teeth, would send the whole pack of you scuttling. You 
want my patient; well, come and take him, and that at your 
peril! ” 

I had said my say, and my last speech was quickly answered, 
even as I closed the window, by the tinkling sound which glass 
makes as it is shattered. A little ball of frozen snow had struck 
a lozenged pane, and driven it inwards in small pieces. 

Again I swung open the casement. 


go The Golden Kingdom 

“I call you to witness, Squire Pumphret,” I shouted, “that 
this house belongs to you, and I am in no way responsible for 
damage done to it by yonder rabble.” 

Such was my parting shot, and it made them pause in their 
proceedings. Some one tried the door, and beat upon it with his 
fists; but I took up my position out of line with the window, 
picked up a book, and made a pretence of reading it, with a great 
show of unconcern, though my ears were stretched to catch every 
sound. Both doors were fast barred, however, and there was no 
large window at the back, the tiny kitchen being lit from the roof 
by a small skylight, which I had securely closed and fastened, 
and beneath which, on the floor, I had set a tub filled with cold 
water. I turned the pages idly, and then, as chance would have 
it, my eye lit on this sentence, and I recognised that the volume 
was the treatise of Rhazes the Arabian: 

“ Barbari tamen, nonnullis in locis cummem quamdam, ex 
arboribus lectam sese unguentes ad sua corpora adhibent, ut hunc 
in modum defensi, paludes incolumes transgrediantur.” 

I translated it rapidly then and there, the while the squire and 
his nephew debated as how best to seize my citadel without 
suffering in pocket, and this is the sense I made of it: 

“ The barbarians in some parts, however, make use of a certain 
gum, taken from trees, wherewith they anoint their bodies, so 
that, being thus protected, they may pass through the marshes 
in safety.” 

I remember thinking the statement incredible, but all thought 
of it was quickly driven from my mind by the sudden assault 
which was made on the house. 

Whether the squire’s rage had mastered his love of guineas, or 
whether the mob, for it was little better, had taken matters into 
their own hands, I cannot tell. Certain is is they proceeded 
to bombard the cottage. Missiles were to be had for the making. 
There had been no frost to prevent the soft and fluffy snow being 
kneaded into firm balls, ay, and into hard, rounded, half-frozen 
blocks, and a regular volley crashed upon the window pane, while 
there was a beating and a thundering on the stout outer door. 
The glass cracked and splintered, the wooden lattice-work was 


A State of Siege 91 

driven in, snowballs and slush came hurtling through the room, 
and splashed and thudded against the opposite wall. The 
villagers cheered; this was indeed a great ploy, a mimic battle, 
and the cannonade all on one side! 

“ Huzza! ” they yelled, and followed the first fusillade with 
a second. 

I had sprung to my feet and was sheltering in a corner, but 
I laid hold of a good stout stick wherewith to crack the first 
pate that had the presumption to come thrusting within my 
domain. “ An Englishman’s house is his castle,” they say, and 
faith, thought I, “if its defences be weak they will find its 
defender strong.” 

“ Defender,” I said to myself, but I was wrong. Suddenly the 
door of the room swung open, and before my astonished eyes 
appeared none other than Corkran the Coxswain. He had 
slipped on his faded and yellow breeches, and twisted his red sash 
round his waist, but the woollen shirt in which I had garbed him 
constituted the rest of his attire, and its sleeves were rolled up 
above each pointed and skinny elbow. His feet and legs were 
bare, a piece of coloured cloth, torn, as I thereafter found, from 
the patchwork coverlet of the bed, was bound about his temples, 
and above it the hair of his wig cropped upwards like the red 
crest of a fighting cock. Each hand grasped one of his pistols, 
which I had fondly fancied were placed beyond his reach on a 
high shelf, and I noted the dog-heads were drawn backwards to 
the full. His face, so long dull and expressionless, was now lit 
up with excitement. His eyes glittered, his nostrils quivered, his 
lean jaw worked from side to side till the beard depending from 
it waggled to and fro, bauble and all. His whole head was thrown 
back, and he entered, with a roll in his walk as though on ship¬ 
board. Once in Holland I had seen a print depicting a great sea 
fight of Van Tromp, and at a glance I knew what my ancient 
mariner had done. By all the fiends! he whom I had thought 
half dead, who had been in a stupor day after day, who had been 
fed like a babe, and tended as a helpless invalid, he, I say, had 
stripped for action! 

“ Split me ! ” he cried, “ what pirate is this has boarded us ? 


92 


The Golden Kingdom 

Never a hail do I hear, and the first noise of the fight the crash 
of the cabin windows. Where in thunder is the boatswain ? ” 

He glared about him, and then caught sight of me. 

“Pipe, you lubber, pipe to quarters!” he roared, his voice of an 
astonishing strength. 

In a moment, entering into this amazing performance with all 
my heart, I put my fingers to my lips, a trick of my boyhood, and 
whistled long and loud. 

“ Boarders ! ” he shouted. “ Prepare to repel boarders, and 
clear away that carronade aft! ” 

“ Ay, ay, sir,” I answered, half stupid with surprise, half con¬ 
sumed with mirth. 

A third shower of missiles completed the demolition of the 
window, and a hard lump of snow caught Corkran full on 
the nose. 

With some outlandish sea oath he sprang to the casement 
before I could stop him. 

“ Strike ! ” he yelled. “ I give you one minute to strike ere 
I send you to perdition with a broadside,” and then he passed 
the back of one hand across his eyes, still gripping the pistol, and 
gave vent to a hoarse cackle of a laugh. It was no wonder ; a 
good dozen of the valiant foe were running for their lives, and 
the rest were staring at him with mouths agape and round eyes 
of astonishment. 

“Stap me!” cried he, “I had forgot. What folly have we 
here?” 

I laid a hand on his shoulder, and he slewed round quickly. 

“ Ho, ho, Doctor Harry ! ” he shouted, “ so this is the game! 
Blessed if I didn’t fancy I was aboard the Bird d Paradise, and 
round shot raking us astern.” 

“ Come away,” I cried hastily, “ you’ll get your death, man ! ” 

“ Death ! ” he laughed shrilly; “ I reckon I know where the 
death will be.” 

“ You fools ! ” I shouted to the crowd. “ Did I not tell you he 
was mad ? will you begone before he does you an injury ? ” 

His pistols, to be sure, were unloaded, but I hoped still 
further to scare the villagers. The squire, however, behind whom 


A State of Siege 93 

Master Fairfax had found shelter, was, to do him justice, a man 
of courage. He tugged at his sword, which had evidently rusted 
in its sheath, and at last freed it and whipped it forth. 

“ Lay down your pistols and surrender, sir,” he bellowed, “ or 
we will make mincemeat of you ! ” 

“ Surrender ! ” chuckled Corkran. “ Hark to that now, and not 
a shot fired! Do you take me for a swab of a Don, my old 
Commodore with the pig-sticker ? ” 

He flourished a pistol at the throng, and its ranks grew yet 
thinner. 

“ By Daddy Neptune, Doctor Harry,” he cried, “ they melt away 
at the sight of a barrel! Split me! if they be worth fighting.” 

“No, no,” I said; “let us parley with them.” 

He was standing with his one arm thrust through the window 
space and the weapon pointed at the squire, when there was a 
rush from the side, a man seized his wrist with both hands, and 
a cheer went up from the crowd. Abel Pike, for it was he, had 
sneaked along the house wall unnoticed, dropped his weapon, 
and rushed to close quarters, intent upon securing the pistol, and 
no doubt ignorant that Corkran carried another. Bitterly was he 
undeceived, and so, for that matter, was I, when I had supposed 
both barkers to be harmless. 

“ Ho, ho, my cock! ” shouted Corkran, and with that he 
pitched up his other hand, there was a sharp report, a streak of 
flame from the bell mouth, a flash from the pan, and a puff of 
white smoke. 

He had discharged his second pistol full into the man’s body. 

Without a cry Abel Pike released his hold on the wrist, 
doubled up like an empty, folding sack, and collapsed face 
downwards on the snow, and as he did so the cheer of the 
mob changed into an angry yell. 


CHAPTER VIII 
THE SONG OF THE SMITH 

I stood aghast at this deed of violence, and then I acted on the 
spur of the moment. Dragging Corkran back from the window, 
I leaped out, picked up the senseless body, and bundled it over 
the sill, following it myself with all haste. I had now a hostage, 
though whether living or dead I could not tell. If the former, I 
could doctor him, and make some amends for the coxswain’s 
rashness; if the latter, it was as well his allies should not know it 
for a certainty. No doubt they would imagine the worst, but for 
the nonce they were stupefied with horror. A murder, or the 
next thing to it, had been committed before their eyes; and after 
one howl of rage they fled from the spot, gathering into a knot 
farther down the street, and well out of pistol-range. 

“ Smartly done, Doctor Harry,” said Corkran, with an approv¬ 
ing grin, and staggered over to the big chair, into which he sank. 

“ A thousand curses on you ! ” I cried, as I knelt by Abel’s 
side. “ You have made bad worse. We are utterly undone.” 

“ Pish ! ” said he. “ We have a breathing-space. But, tell 
me, what is the reason for all this to-do ? ” 

I did not answer, being busy with the wounded man, whom I 
quickly detected was not dead. Blood was oozing from his 
mouth and nostrils, and gurgling in his weasand as he drew his 
breath, while his eyes were closed, and his shrewish faco was 
more pinched than ever. I ripped open his clothes, and found a 
wound of entrance and of exit, a rib smashed behind, and clear 
evidence that the ball had passed through his lung. I stripped 

94 


The Song of the Smith 95 

him hastily, got a couple of paddings placed in position, and 
bound him up securely. The bleeding showed signs of stopping. 
He began to blow frothy air-bells from his lips, and the froth was 
pink in colour. There was no use running any risk by shifting 
him, so I got a cushion placed below his head, laid a cold, wet 
cloth upon his throat, and let him lie. I could do no more, but 
had scant hopes of his recovery. Then I turned on Corkran. 

“ Hand over your pistols,” I said sternly. 

He threw them sulkily upon the floor. 

“ They are of no use either to you or me,” he growled. " It 
was my last charge, and I had kept it for myself.” 

“ What made you fire ? ” I asked, in a voice full of dismay. 

“ Made me fire ? Ecod ! and was there not cause ? These 
gentry were beginning to wear an ugly look, and I did not know 
but that yonder slinker had a knife ready for me. Was I to wait 
till I felt its point rasping on my backbone and its hilt rattling on 
my ribs ? No, no, Doctor Harry—first come, first served, and ay 
see you do the serving.” 

“ Well, well,” I answered ruefully, “ there’s no manner of use 
crying over spilt milk ; but what are we to do now ? ” 

“ What you might have done at the first,” said he—“ close the 
shutters.” 

“ Believe me or not as you will, the simple idea had not 
previously occurred to me. I now hastened to put his suggestion 
into action. 

“ Is there any other port they may force ? ” asked Corkran. 

“ No,” I replied; “ the kitchen skylight is too small to admit a 
man’s body, and the back door is very stout, and fastened by two 
heavy bars.” 

“ Well and good,” said he. “ And the window in my chamber 
is but a slit in the wall. Is that a peep-hole ? ” 

He pointed* towards a disc of wood fixed on to the back of one 
of the shutters, and I nodded. It covered a circular aperture, 
which may have served an important function once upon a time, 
the cottage having been built before the wars. 

“ You had best clap your eye to it then, and keep a bright 
look-out,” he added. “ My head is clear now, but I was clean 


96 The Golden Kingdom 

dazed when I rose. So here’s for forty winks ! After all, my 
hearty, there’s nought like the smell of a fight to rouse the devil 
in one, and make him stir his shanks.” 

“ So it would seem,” I replied, as he composed himself to rest 
in one chair, while I drew another to the window, and, sitting 
down, took stock of the street through the peep-hole in the 
shutter. My range of vision was limited, and I saw nothing living 
except a frightened woman’s face peering out above the screen which 
hid the lower part of an upper window in the house opposite. 

I was on the horns of a pretty dilemma. I had sworn to 
stand by my patient, and now he had kindly presented me with a 
second, very much worse than himself, down whose shaven chin 
two trickles of red were coursing from each corner of his mouth 
and clotting ere they reached the margin of his lower jaw. 
There was no longer any place for me in Bishop-Solingford. No 
doubt I might make myselt scarce; but what was I to do with 
the half-naked man in the chair ? Despite all the troubles into 
which he had unwittingly plunged me, I had a sneaking fondness 
for him. I confess there was something taking in the fact that 
at the first sound of strife he had tumbled out of bed and made 
for the fray. Crack-pated or not, he was the most interesting 
human being I had ever encountered, and I did not feel inclined 
to steal away and leave him, unarmed and helpless, to the tender 
mercies of the infuriated squire and his myrmidons. And yet, 
supposing I could carry him with me in my retreat, provided I 
managed to secure the mare, was I to go wandering about the 
country with this scarecrow, a fugitive from justice? True, there 
was the sea; but we were far from any port of magnitude, and 
—and- 

My meditations, if they can be so called, were interrupted by 
the approach of the enemy; but I perceived at once that they 
had gained a new recruit, who, like Saul of old, towered head and 
shoulders above his neighbours. 

Jacob Little, the smith, bare-headed, and in his apron, had 
joined their ranks; and as they drew closer, I saw he carried his 
huge sledge-hammer, its handle fastened to his right wrist by a 
leathern loop. 




The Song of the Smith 97 

“ Is Saul also among the foe ? ” was my unspoken thought, but 
could scarce believe it of him after what had passed. 

“ Here they come ! ” I cried; and Corkran rose from the chair 
and looked out. 

“ Whew ! ” he whistled. “ What clumsy giant is this ? He 
has as queer a rig as a junk.” 

In a few words I told him, and expressed the hopes I had 
entertained that Jacob would prove to be a friend. 

“Stap me!” he replied, “but he would be a friend indeed. 
Saw you ever such a poll ? By the Lord ! Harry, my lad, I had 
rather be void of scalp than cursed with a head of hair like 
bleached Chinese cotton, or flax from a lint steep. Shiver my 
soul! but he has eyes like a blind, white polecat.” 

“ Maybe,” I answered ; “ but he is the strongest man I have 
ever seen—ay, or imagined. I witnessed him master a great 
stallion single-handed.” 

Corkran did not reply, but remained with his eye glued to the 
peep-hole. 

“ They be mortal scared,” he said presently ; and with that he 
stuck the muzzle of one of his unloaded pistols through the 
aperture, and then laughed aloud; for, as he told me, they had all 
run at sight of it, save the commodore and the junk—for so he 
called the squire and the blacksmith. 

“There are but two spunky craft amongst the lot,” he said, 
withdrawing his eye from the hole; “ but that’s a fearsome 
weapon the junk carries by a landyard.” 

I took his place, and watched the two men talking together. A 
third, the squire’s watchman, joined them, and I noted that he 
carried a musket. Things were indeed becoming very serious. 
Although I had not informed Corkran, my own pistols, loaded 
and primed, lay locked up in my strong-box, but I was anxious to 
avoid further bloodshed. Still, the man in me rebelled against 
tame submission. I had more than a measure of right upon my 
side, and was not to blame for the shooting of Abel Pike. 
Consequently I hardened my heart, and resolved to defy them. 
By this time the crowd had gathered again, and I saw the squire 
point with his sword towards the house. His musketeer fell on 

7 


98 The Golden Kingdom 

one knee, and trained his weapon on the window; and Jacob, in 
whom I was sore disappointed, separated from the rest, and I 
knew that, as Abel Pike had done, he was creeping up the street 
close to the house wall. There was some skill in their disposi¬ 
tions ; for if one leaned out to fire at the smith, he would be at 
the mercy of the musketeer, who would, in all probability, fire, 
did he see as much as a bell-mouth peeping from out the shutter. 

The smith’s intention was soon evident. I could not bring 
myself to produce my pistols and send a pellet into him, though 
not through fear of the armed man in the street, and so he gained 
the door unharmed, then, stepping a couple of paces backward, 
he swung the hammer above his head. He was, beyond a doubt, 
a very daring fellow, for he ran risk both from pistol and musket, 
and presented a mark which would be difficult to miss. But ere 
his battering ram could descend on the stout timber I cried his 
name through the hole in the shutter. He paused in his stroke 
and turned in my direction, blinking and surprised. 

“ Is that you, my doctor ? ” he said. 

“ Why, yes,” I answered joyfully ; “ what mean you by trying 
to ding my house down about my ears in this uncivil manner ? ” 

He positively grew distressed. 

“ God be my witness,” he said earnestly, “ that I knew not you 
lived here. They came and told me that two low fellows had 
taken possession of one of the squire’s cottages, and they asked 
me to break in upon them.” 

“ And probably told you they were unarmed ? ” 

“ Even so, with the exception of a knife or two—oh yes, they 
mentioned knives.” 

“ Why, man,” I whispered, for he had come closer, “ we have 
had to shoot one of the rascals already.” 

“ Do you tell me ? ” he rejoined in wonder, his slow brains 
gradually taking in my meaning. 

At that moment the squire shouted out: 

“ Fall to, Master Jacob, fall to ! What game are you at there ? ” 

“ You will presently see,” Jacob called back to him, and then 
said softly, “ Open the shutters, doctor, my hammer prefers 
wooden heads to wooden doors to-day.” 


The Song of the Smith 99 

“The smith’s with us,” I cried to Corkran, as I made haste to 

obey. 

“ Split me ! then,” was his answer, “ if we be not a trio! " 

In climbed Jacob like some vast sprawling frog, and as the 
shutters were closed again a cry of chagrin and wrath went up 
from the squire’s party. 

“ God bless you, Jacob ! ” I said heartily, “ and-” 

“ Come aboard to join, my hearty ? ” cried Corkran. “ Doctor 
Harry, are we not to splice the mainbrace over this new messmate?” 

“What?” I asked. 

“ Ecod ! ” said he, “a thimbleful of cognac would but be fitting 
to the occasion.” 

“No, no, captain,” I replied; “remember, you are still my 
patient, and we may yet need all our brandy.” 

“ Right, my admiral ! ” was his sole rejoinder. “ But stap my 
vitals ! this gentleman is scarce human.” 

It was ludicrous to see the two of them together : the one the 
impersonation of wickedness and war, and the other a type of 
simplicity and the peaceful trades, at least, so it appeared to me, 
though to be sure there was a spice of quiet wit and humour 
about the smith’s sayings and doings. 

“ Have a care,” I contrived to whisper in Corkran’s ear, and he 
winked, to show that he comprehended my meaning. It would not 
do to offend a third, and that, to write like an Irishman, the 
biggest third of the garrison. Thus reinforced, I felt much 
more confident of the immediate future, though it was distinctly 
unpleasant to be mewed up in my own dwelling. 

The musketeer did not draw trigger on us, and from my point 
of vantage I watched the crowd, which presently dispersed. The 
squire had evidently hatched some fresh plan. I asked Jacob, 
who was fairly puzzled at the coxswain’s appearance, to take his 
stand on a chair in the sick-chamber and keep a watch through the 
slit for any demonstration directed at the back of the house. 
Corkran, who began to look jaded and spent, sat in the window 
chair, and I attended to Abel Pike. He was better, though still 
unconscious. The bleeding had ceased, and the bandages had 
not shifted, so I did not disturb him. 

L.of C. 


100 


The Golden Kingdom 

Thus we watched and waited till nightfall, and though the 
smith reported that he had seen two men, evidently on sentry-go, 
there was no other sign of the enemy. We had eaten in turn, 
though the sailor was sick in the stomach, and refused solid food; 
but as it grew dark we gathered round the table and the candles 
in the front room. It was cold now that a few jagged pieces of 
glass and broken framework guarded by the shutters was all that 
was left of my trim window, but a roaring fire made some amends 
and it was unlikely we would be disturbed that night at least. 
Jacob Little had told me that he had heard the chirurgeon pro¬ 
posing to send for the soldiery, there being a garrison of dragoons 
quartered at the town nearest us on the Great North Road, and I 
considered it very likely that his proposal had been followed. If 
so, they would be here on the morrow, and we would not stand 
a chance. 

“ We must clear out before daybreak,” I cried. “ Fortunately the 
night is dark.” 

“ Yes,” nodded the smith, “ and it begins to snow.” 

“ Ugh ! ” exclaimed Corkran ; “ and whither are we bound, my 
masters ? ” • 

He had removed the cloth from his head and got him into one 
of my undervests and coats, both too big for him, while I had 
supplied him also with hosen and stout shoes. A broad leathern 
belt replaced the red waistband, which was now wound round his 
neck, and over his own breeches he had drawn a pair of mine, 
much soiled and worn, but received with a profusion of thanks and 
odd remarks. Though scarcely such an outrageous figure, he 
presented a sufficiently startling appearance, and the bauble once 
more glittered like a beast’s eye in his beard. Jacob, I could see, 
distrusted him and viewed him askance, while I merely marvelled 
at his hardihood and the grit which kept him on his feet when he 
looked fitter for his bed. 

“ Hist!” he added suddenly, and then in a whisper, “ar’t sure 
our friend with the hole in him cannot hear?” 

I went and looked, testing his ey* wink with my finger. 

“ Certain,” I replied; “ he is still unconscious.” 

“ Then,” said Corkran, taking the chart from his locket, “ what 


101 


The Song of the Smith 

did I tell you, Doctor Harry ? Ho, ho ! my master, ’tis your fate; 
come you must, and see you bring your tome there along with 
you.” 

I have in me, as the reader, granted there be one, has perchance 
perceived, a certain vein of caution,—mayhap my legacy from a 
Scots ancestor who came south with their King James, that 
source of trouble and contention, but I have also something of 
the fatalist, and in extremities I am apt to act on the spur of the 
moment. I did so now, though not till the sailor had once more 
recounted the glories and dangers of the enterprise. 

“ This is no idle quest,” said he, “no delving for Spanish doub¬ 
loons on a bare island with land crabs and stinking guano, no 
steering betwixt ice floes and grubbing amongst frozen snow for 
scurvy grass. We seek the sun, my lad, and the flowers, and 
broad rivers, and fair plains, and mighty forests. The land teems 
with game, the natives, save the Abatwa, are the kindliest sons of 
Ham on earth. I tell you it is a continent, a mighty continent, 
an escapade fit for kings and armies, and with gold at the end of 
it, and, mayhap,” here he winked prodigiously, “ a princess as well. 
Yea or nay, for the second time, Doctor Harry,—for the second 
and last time ? ” 

“ Have with you! ” I answered hotly, seeing no prospect of 
either getting there or anywhere else. 

“ Swear to me ! ” he cried, exultant. 

“ You have my word, hang you ! ” I said, half angry at myself, 
“ and that is as good as any bond or oath.” 

“ By Daddy Neptune ! ” he answered, “ I do believe it, and will 
take it as such.” 

All this time he had paid no attention to Jacob Little, who 
gazed from him to me with the kindliest of unmeaning grins as if to 
say, “ These be two very funny fellows, but their talk is utterly 
beyond me.” 

Now, however, Corkran rounded on him. 

“ And you, my hop o’ thumb, are you also for the sea ? I opine 
there will be enough treasure for the three of us.” 

Now Jacob was a trifle slow of hearing. 

“ Eh ? ” he queried. 


102 


The Golden Kingdom 

“ Eh ? ” mimicked the mariner, who was now excited, “ would 
you waste your breath ? Come, sir, you have heard me speak of 
this country of gold. I do you the honour to ask you to accom¬ 
pany us in the state visit we propose paying to his Majesty of that 
realm.” 

His air was magnificent. Worthy Jacob looked a trifle 
bewildered, and no wonder. 

“ You mistake,” he said at length, shielding his eyes from the 
candlelight ; “ I deal in the baser metals.” 

“Ho, ho!” laughed Corkran, “ stap me! if he is not a 
wit, Doctor Harry, our junk is pierced for guns and can hit 
back right merrily. So you are wedded to your trade,” he said, 
“ a sorry business, ecod! Doctor Harry, I prithee lend me 
a sheet of paper, a quill, and a dash of ink, and it’s Corkran will 
write you the life of a smith.” 

Marvelling greatly, I brought him the requisites. He squared 
himself to the task, his head all on one side and a tuft of his 
wig hair falling over one eye and having to be constantly thrown 
back. 

Splutter, splutter ! he wrote with a magnificent flourish and at 
a surprising rate, making at the same time a most filthy mess 
as he showered inkdrops around him. 

In ten minutes or so he had finished, and was reading over what 
he had set down. Then he dived into one of the pockets of my 
waistcoat, which he was wearing, and produced therefrom a thin 
reed of metal which he must have transferred to it from his own 
clothes. This he struck on the table edge and it vibrated, giving 
forth a humming note. Again he tapped on the wood and held 
it to his unharmed ear. The pitch was higher, and he smiled to 
himself and threw back his head. Then without so much as by 
your leave, he began to sing. Not as he had done that first 
night. True, there came, as before, the harsh sound in his wind¬ 
pipe, but his voice, otherwise, was more melodious, and expressed 
better the meaning of his words. The first verse was set to 
a rapid, tripping measure, with a deep-throated chorus at the end 
of it ; that of the second was sad and slow ; but the cadence of 
the third was weird, of an intense melancholy, and produced 


The Song of the Smith 103 

a most peculiar effect upon us who listened without protest, 
for this was what he voiced. These are the words of the 
Song of the Smith as Corkan wrote and sang them : 

A right merry man was the blacksmith bold, 

Though he boasted him not of silver or gold, 

But his arm was strong and his eye was sure ; 

What recked he then though ever so poor ? 

So long as his bellows were tough and sound 
His hammer from anvil did oft rebound, 

And many’s the horse and many’s the mare 
That Vulcan fitted with one or two pair ; 

For clinkety clink, and clinkety clang, 

A right merry song his hammer sang. 

A weary old man is the blacksmith grey, 

And he struggleth often to pay his way, 

For his arm is weak and his eye is dim, 

And poverty meaneth a grave for him. 

Alack ! his bellows are all to mend, 

And soon his hammer its song must end, 

For never a horse and never a mare 
Falls to the feeble old blacksmith’s share ; 

And clink, clink, clink, and clink, clink, clong, 

A weary affair is his hammer’s song. 

A silent old man is the blacksmith now, 

And his poverty troubleth him not, I trow, 

For his arm is stiff, and his eye is sunk, 

And he heareth no longer the clinkety clunk. 

The hammer’s song is muffled and rude 

As it driveth the nails through the coffin wood, 

While there’s never a horse, and never a mare, 

Can drag the old smith from his churchyard lair. 

And ding, dong, ding, and dong, ding, dong, 

The death-bell must toll the hammer’s song. 

It was, perhaps, but rude verse, though it expressed his meaning, 
yet, sung as Corkran sang it, even I was stirred. I could see 
Jacob’s powerful figure in the heyday of his youth and strength. 
I could see him old and bent and worn, with the rheumy eyes, 
and the drop at the nose, and the palsied hands of the aged ; ay, 


104 The Golden Kingdom 

and I could see him also, still and stiff and sunken ; and I 
seemed to hear the dull, unmusical, matter-of-fact thuds of a 
hammer upon coffin nails as they pinned the lid to the body 
of the chest. There was something of devilish cunning in all 
this, something I could scarcely fathom, and if the effect on my 
nerves was marked, Jacob Little was even more impressed. 

Corkran could give a wonderful metallic clang to his voice, and 
where he imitated the strokes on the anvil one could well-nigh 
hear the resounding blows of a sledge hammer in the first verse ; 
in the second, the feeble tinklings at which he hinted, and in the 
third the sonorous tones of a heavy, slow-tolling bell. 

The smith’s face flushed and worked, grew long and distressed, 
and then full of pity and sympathy as he listened to the tale of the 
three phases of his career. Indeed, at the end, his head was sunk 
in his hands, and I am not certain but that he was blinking 
the moisture out of his blind eyes. 

“ Wonderful ! ” he said at length. <c Captain Corkran, you are 
an amazing man ! ” 

“ Ay, ay,” replied the latter gruffly, a little affected, I think, 
by his own singing, for his nature was emotional; “ but are you 
for that amazing man’s company, or are you not, sir ? ” 

Jacob shook his head. 

“ I know nothing of the sea,” he said, “ and I have no 
greed of gold.” 

“ But I will tell you what you have, sir,” cried Corkran, who 
seemed angered at his refusal, “ you have a need of brains, 
sir, of brains ! Split me! if I do not change my song to run, 
how think you, Master Smith ? why— 

Blinkety, blink, blinkety, blunk, 

Two blind eyes in a white head sunk.” 

He craned forward his neck as he spoke and delivered this 
dastardly insult with a vehement malignity. I could not conceive 
his object, unless it were to rouse the phlegmatic man before him, 
and, if so, he succeeded. 

Jacob, who seemed quite willing to agree with him as he 
spo.^e of lack of brains, started as though stung when Corkran 


The Song of the Smith 105 

threw this insane gibe at him. He pushed back his chair and 
sprang clumsily to his feet. His eyes dilated, and it was then 
I noted they were of a very pale blue colour, and not pink, as 
I had fancied; he clenched his huge fists, and as I rose to 
stop him he rushed at Corkran like some infuriated bull. That 
worthy, with whom I was disgusted, never stirred a muscle, but 
sat and grinned evilly up at the man he had goaded to a fury. 

If he had tried to escape or defend himself Jacob would have 
pounded him to a jelly ; but this impassiveness disconcerted the 
smith, who stood towering above him, choking and inarticulate 
with rage, and yet too much of a gentleman to strike a thing 
which made no effort to defend itself. 

In after-days the old sea-dog explained that he was determined 
to set Jacob’s sluggish blood in motion, and to taunt him with 
stupidity and cowardice, for he saw that the smith would prove 
a useful ally in his schemes. Had his first means of defence 
failed him, he told us that he had meant to play the same trick 
he had played, without success, on me—to have whipped off his 
wig and scared Jacob’s wits out of him. 

“ My friend,” said Jacob, when he was so informed, “ it is well 
for you that I stopped short when I did, for I can at no time see 
very well in any kind of light, and that evening I could scarce 
see at all.” 

It was true. The smith was both blind and deaf in his con¬ 
suming wrath, and I do not think he even heard my protests 
or saw me as I ran in between them. Indeed, he might probably 
have crushed me in place of Corkran had there not at that 
moment come a muffled but incessant tapping at the shutter. 


CHAPTER IX 
BOUND FOR BANTAM 

With some difficulty I dragged Jacob back to his seat, besought 
him to be quiet, and in the same breath roundly rated Corkran, 
and swore I would have no such conduct under my roof. What, 
however, was the use of storming at a man who wore a most 
penitent air, solemnly shook his head, and declared I was perfectly 
in the right, while his eyes were yet dancing in his head with 
amusement and wickedness ? He was incomprehensible, this old 
rip, and actually began complimenting the smith on the spirit he 
had shown, after we had hurriedly arranged that I should ascertain 
whether or no some one was signalling to us. 

“ I did but test you a trifle roughly,” he said, “ but on ship¬ 
board we are apt to forget our gentility and bandy jests which 
sour on a landsman’s stomach. I ask your pardon, my friend.” 
He was again the gentleman. 

I heard no more, but leaving them to settle matters amicably, I 
went over to the window and rapped on my side of the shutter. 

The tapping ceased. 

“ Who is there ? ” I called out softly, and slid back the covering 
of the eyelet. 

“ Harry, my lad, is that you ? ” whispered a voice I recognised 
as the vicar’s. 

“ Master Spetticue ! ” I exclaimed, “ what brings you here ? ” 

“ Hush ! ” he said. “ I come at great risk to warn you. They 
have sent for the dragoons, and you must be gone ere morning.” 

“ You are a good friend,” said I; “but what sort of a night is it?” 

io6 


Bound for Bantam 


107 

“Exceeding dirty,” he replied, “as black as my coat, and 
snowing heavily. They have a watch set in the house opposite, 
and I have had to creep along close to the house walls, 
and crawl, crawl on the snow, whenever I passed a lighted 
window.” 

The idea of the Rev. Hilary playing such pranks tickled me, 
but I was touched by the goodness of his heart. 

“You need not fear for me,” I said; “ere morning I’ll be far 
on the road.” 

He groaned. 

“ What is my poor Amelia to do without you ? ” he said. 

“ Tut, man ! ” I answered, “ she is surely sufficiently versed in 
such matters to-” 

“ I must go,” he whispered, interrupting me, “ there is some 
one coming down the street with a lantern. Write me, doctor—. 
Good-bye, and may God bless you ! ” 

His plump hand was pushed through the peep-hole, and was 
withdrawn the moment after I had pressed it. With another 
groan the worthy parson was gone, leaving me more moved than 
I had thought possible, and half averse to quit the village where I 
had one such kindly friend. 

There could be no doubt, however, that the sooner we got 
underway the better. After listening for a short space, during 
which I heard nothing further, I returned to my companions and 
found peace restored, or, at the worst, a kind of armed neutrality 
in force. I told them what I had heard, and they agreed with 
me that it would be wise to set out at once, especially as the 
heavy snowfall would serve to mask our movements. It was not 
probable that the sentinels at the back of the house found the 
business much to their liking, and their vigilance might be eluded. 
We made our plans hastily, but with due caution. 

Whether Abel Pike died or not the matter meant a hanging for 
Corkran, were he caught, and transportation, or even a similar 
fate, for me. The smith would certainly suffer imprisonment, so 
that none of us felt our necks far from the noose. Poor Jacob 
had decided to throw in his lot with us for the nonce. Indeed, 
he had no other choice left him, even though it meant abandoning 



108 The Golden Kingdom 

a small store of money he kept in the loft above the smithy, for 
we could not run the risk of letting him go to fetch it. 

The whole affair seemed so paltry and unnecessary that it was 
hard to conceive we were really in danger of our lives, and yet, 
that proof might not be lacking, there was the wounded man in 
the corner, moaning uneasily and apparently coming to his senses. 
Corkran, for all his vigour, was still weak, and I decided that we 
must make for the stabling-shed, saddle the mare, and mount him 
on her back. In this they concurred, and I could see that the 
coxswain was heartily glad to hear that he would have a horse at 
his disposal, though he took it as a matter of course. 

I had enough to do. First, I fetched a hat for the smith, 
which covered very little of his crown till it was crushed out of 
shape, and the saddle-bags being fortunately in the house, I set 
to work to pack food and drink, cautioning Corkran regarding the 
latter. I got out my pistols, drew their charges, cleaned and loaded 
them, and supplied the coxswain with powder and shot for his 
barkers, which luckily were of a similar bore. This, I think, gave 
him more delight than anything else, for he showed no compunc¬ 
tion at having let daylight into Abel Pike, and thrust his weapon 
into his belt with an air of bravado which consorted poorly with 
the drawn, haggard look on his face. I had an old cloak and a 
wrap-rascal, so I served Jacob with the one and Corkran with the 
second, feeling the latter was well bestowed and for once deserved 
its name. The volume on fevers I secured in a piece of sacking 
and placed in a bundle of odds and ends, such as my instruments 
for phlebotomy and a few useful drugs which I gathered together. 
It was only then I felt the wrench at leaving all my well-thumbed 
stock of vellum, my treasure trove of learning and information 
behind me; but it was impossible to take the books, and I rested 
content with a pocket Bible which had been my mother’s—a 
strange selection surely, but every man has his soft moments, and 
God knows there was a lump in my throat as I looked around me 
at the familiar though humble room. 

I had picked up several of the classics when in Leyden, for 
example, the works in part of Pliny, Strabo, and Herodotus, a 
well-preserved Tacitus in folio, and a curious collection of manu- 


Bound for Bantam 


109 

scripts dealing with Upper Egypt and the Nile. Further, my 
books on medicine were my pride, some having excellent wood- 
cuts and engravings, and one, printed in Italian, a wonderful set 
of runic illustrations, done most cunningly in colour. It cut me 
to the heart to leave all this store, but there was no alternative. 
Sitting down, I penned a letter to the vicar, beseeching him to 
give them house room, and leaving him my other belongings and 
sufficient sums to pay Dame Pottinger (who, poor soul, must have 
been terrified at all this upturning), and to fee my worthy stable¬ 
man. I sprinkled the sand over the wet ink, folded and sealed 
the directions, and then on second thoughts wrote out a statement 
of the whole unfortunate affair, and made Corkran and Jacob 
Little witness my signature. Both could write, but the smith’s 
penmanship was of the feeblest, and he smeared thl ink on the 
point of his nose when peering at his work of art. 

At last we were accoutred for the road, but, before leaving, 
Jacob and I raised Abel Pike and bestowed him on the box-bed, 
where I made him as comfortable as might be, and placed a cup 
of milk conveniently near him, for I knew he would wake thirsty, 
if he woke at all. 

Everything was at length ready, and the others awaited me in 
the little kitchen at the back. I took a silent farewell of my old 
room, my hearthstone, the cheery fire, my books, the sturdy 
table, my padded chair. I was like one in a dream. True, I 
had kicked against my dull life, but when it came to striking out 
afresh and facing the unknown with the hounds of justice at my 
heels, I felt depressed and miserable. Shabby though the place 
was, it had been my home, and now a wanderer’s life was in store 
for me, and no doubt there would be a price upon my head. My 
solitary consolation was that I was not to blame, unless, indeed, 
this misfortune was sent as a judgment for my repinings. 

Remember, dear reader, I was not a youth, and routine sets its 
mark on a man and meshes his soul as much as sin, even though 
he may have no human ties. Not that I am ashamed of my 
weakness. After all, it was not cowardly, though could I have 
gazed into the future I do not say but that sheer fright might have 
gripped me as I stood and said adieu to my ancient, silent friends. 


I IO 


The Golden Kingdom 

Leaving the candles burning, I lit a lantern and joined my 
companions in the kitchen, carefully closing the door which 
opened into it from the passage, so that when we passed out into 
the garden no ray of light might warn those watching the house 
that any attempt at escape was in progress. 

“ Have you everything ? ” I asked, raising the lantern and 
surveying the two figures before me, Jacob, enormous in the cloak, 
and Corkran a shapeless mass in the folds of the wrap-rascal. 

They nodded, and it was then I saw that the smith had his 
beloved hammer with him. It was a curious thing to drag about 
the country, but would prove a most formidable weapon at close 
quarters, especially as it had a very lengthy handle of tough wood. 
I could not then foresee that it and the book of Rhazes the 
Arabian were perhaps the most valuable of our effects. 

Extinguishing the candle in the lantern we drew back the bars 
from the outer door, shot back the lock, which, to my excited 
brain, appeared to make an appalling noise, and then, as I alone 
knew the way to the stable, I was the first to pass out into 
the night. 

“ Exceeding dirty,” the vicar had said, and he was not far 
wrong. The blackness was intense, it was as if we were at 
the bottom of some pit below ground, but the air was full of 
snow. Great flakes, whose whiteness was not visible, were falling 
so thickly that it seemed a wonder they did not form one 
continuous sheet. To me it appeared as though there could 
scarce be room enough to provide a space between the com¬ 
ponents of such a multitude. There was little wind, and hence 
the cold, though sharp, was not intense. What chiefly struck me 
about that night was its utter loneliness. 

The others followed me, and we closed the door behind us, 
putting it on the latch. Then keeping close to the wall of the 
cottage we stole cautiously along, seeing nothing but a whitish 
glimmer on the ground and the occasional vague shape of a snow¬ 
flake, hearing nothing but the soft thud of our own footsteps and 
the faint sound of our own breathing. I carried my bundle and 
one of the saddle-bags, the other being in Jacob’s charge, together 
with the provender. As for Corkran, he had enough to do to 


Bound for Bantam 


111 


stumble along himself. I came near losing my way, though we 
had not far to go, but luckily I blundered on the edge of the barn 
of which the stable formed a part. 

Groping by the side of the wooden building we arrived at the 
door, half expecting to find a guard placed over it, but finding 
none. I had the key, and was speedily inside, and had lit the 
lantern. The shed was tenantless save for my Nancy, who 
whimpered softly as I came up to her. It seemed a black shame 
to take the poor beast out of her stall on such a night, but there 
was no help for it, and quickly saddling, girthing, and bridling 
her I led her forth, after strapping on the saddle-bags, fastening 
her nose-bag to the pommel, and being careful to take also several 
feeds of corn in a receptacle of soft leather, in shape like a bladder, 
which I used for the purpose. The mare was accustomed to 
night work, but she did not fancy facing the snow. For all that, 
like the kindly animal she was, she rubbed her soft nose against 
my sleeve, and suffered Corkran to be hoisted on her back, where 
he crouched a huddled heap of swathings, after commenting 
quaintly on the novelty of his craft. 

Then we set out upon our travels, myself at the bridle, Jacob 
at the mare’s tail, and the silent, merciful snow obliterating all 
traces of our midnight flight. 

It would serve no purpose to recount step by step the stages of 
our journey, the hardships we encountered, the miseries we 
endured. At first I was for visiting one of the outlying farms 
and purchasing a cart, but fearing lest such an action should give 
the dragoons an inkling of the direction in which we had gone, 1 
abandoned the idea, and we pushed steadily southwards. London 
was our goal, for in its labyrinth of streets and lanes lay our 
best chance of safety, and Corkran knew a place hard by the 
river where we could lie perdu. 

The smith stuck to us, for he and I grew very friendly, though 
he was still averse to the sailor’s company. Corkran, however, 
with his withered skin nipped by the cold and his thin blood 
chilled and sluggish, was very peaceable, remaining drowsy and 
half stupefied the whole week it took us to reach the capital. 
We avoided villages and put up at isolated farms, though more 


I 12 


The Golden Kingdom 

than once we had to camp in the open, and then, indeed, 
Corkran’s past experiences were of value, for he had a dozen 
methods of securing comfort and all kind of devices for procuring 
warmth and shelter, and this despite his lassitude. 

My store of money was not large, but it sufficed, and just before 
reaching the city I parted with Nancy, thereby filling my purse, 
but leaving my heart with another void in it, for many a lonely 
hour had the mare and I spent in each other’s company. Guided 
by Corkran, who shook off his lethargy at the sight of bricks and 
mortar, we made our way through the pebble-paved streets to the 
north bank of the Thames, and there in the precinct of St. 
Catherine which, whatever it now may do, did not then stretch to 
within a mile of Limehouse, in that noisy, squalid quarter of the 
busy metropolis, we found a refuge. 

There was no word of our pursuers, but it was impossible to 
be certain if we were free of them. No doubt Master Fairfax, 
being London bred and knowing the city’s reputation, would at 
once suspect us of having gone thither, so that as soon as the 
roads were once more open the hue and cry might be hot foot 
after us. Still, we had done well so far, and though our lodging 
was comfortless it was moderately clean, which compensated us in 
some measure for having to stay indoors. The weather changed 
and Corkran recovered. Nothing would keep him in the house. 

The sight of the broad river with its wherries, the tilt-boat, running 
up-stream on the tide from Greenwich to Westminster with its load 
of passengers, the tall ships swinging to their hawsers in the Pool, 
with sails clewed under the gaskets, or loosed in snowy bellying 
clouds as the barques glided seawards to the choruses of mariners, 
rendered him strangely restless. The whole quarter reeked of 
foreign lands. A whiff of tar greeted your nostrils and your ears 
were assailed by the cries of watermen passing coarse jests or the 
time of day with one another. Barges laden above the gunwales 
with every manner of merchandise unloaded at the wharves, and 
porters staggered under the weight of bales and casks, stamped 
and strong-smelling, which they haled to the warehouses, or 
sweated as they rolled wayward barrels and bulging puncheons. 
Jovial mariners, with rings in their ear-lobes and the jingle of 


Bound for Bantam 


XI 3 

coin in their pockets, reeled through the narrow lanes, squirting 
out the brown juice of cheek-stuffing quids and arm in arm 
with frowsy, petticoated Polls, whose prey they were. A stately 
merchant, all cane and ruffles and seals, would hail a boat and 
embark with much pomp and circumstance for one of his craft 
lying at anchorage, or soundly rate some defaulting clerk with 
thin chest and spindle shanks, a pitiable spectacle in this place of 
sun-browned men. I could see it all from the window, and it 
fascinated me. I knew a little of London, but this was a new side 
to its life, and conjured up visions such as Corkran had described. 

Jacob, unused to being cooped up and deprived of exercise, 
was miserable; but the coxswain, finding his weak point, had so 
imbued him with an idea of the strength and agility of the 
natives of Terra de Natal that he was anxious to try conclusions 
with them, being admirably simple, and so had agreed to ship 
with us. Indeed, he was bewildered at all the bustle and 
confusion, and on the rare occasions on which he ventured out 
was ever blundering blindly into people on the street, who, how¬ 
ever, after one glance at him were only too willing to admit the 
fault lay with them. 

At night it was different, but I never tired of watching the 
lights flash into being at foretops, from side ports, in poop 
lanterns, and from cabin windows. The wavy yellow streaks 
dipped into the blackness of the river, over which would drift the 
tinkle of squeaky fiddle scrapings and the sound of voices singing. 

At last I felt that I had done wisely to quit my country grave 
and to be once more in touch with the great world, at length I 
ceased to regret the sudden and unlooked-for change. So the 
time sped, with never a glimpse of our pursuers. I did not write 
Master Spetticue, for obvious reasons, and amused myself with 
the treatise of Rhazes, to which previously I had paid scant 
attention. Just, however, as this hole and corner game was 
becoming irksome, Corkran, who had been busy making inquiries, 
returned one day at dusk with the tidings that on the morrow we 
were to sail, as he had taken passage for the two of us, at the 
expense of many a good penny in my purse, aboard a stout ship 
bound for Bantam. 


8 


CHAPTER X 


ABO A RD THE “ KITTIWAKE" 

“Bantam,” said I, with a vague idea that the place was in the 
Eastern Indies or Batavia, though, as no doubt the reader well 
knows, it is really situate in the island of Java, “ but how will 
that help us?” 

“ Hark to the land lubber ! ” chuckled Corkram; “ is any craft, 
however well found, to compass eight months’ voyage without 
the cable scraping through the hawse hole ? Learn, then, that 
the Kittiwake , for so she is called, will touch either at the Bay 
of Saint Helena, or at the Cape itself.” 

“ Saint Helena,” I repeated, “ is there not some island of that 
name ? ” 

“ Right, my great geographer, there is such a bare black rock 
plump in mid-ocean, but the bay of which I speak is on the 
mainland, and is an inhospitable spot at that. Howbeit, ’tis easy 
to get a ship thence to Table Bay, and thereafter we must even 
trust to luck and our own wits if we are to make the wooded 
promontory and the great lagoon.” 

Now that we were face to face with the adventure I had my 
misgivings, but having passed my word I would not turn back, 
and, moreover, felt a trifle reckless and even intent upon the 
enterprise. 

It seemed to me a very solemn and momentous thing to under¬ 
take so long a voyage, and especially to set out upon such a mad 
quest, and I marvelled at Corkran, who looked forward with 
relish to the prospect and appeared less perturbed than if a fly 


Aboard the Kittiwake 


Il S 

had lit upon his nose. As for Jacob, he was aghast at the 
thought of such a journey, but he resolved to stick by me, and 
soon resumed his usual phlegmatic demeanour, though some¬ 
what concerned as to the question of victuals aboard this 
Kittiwake. 

Corkran informed us that the vessel lay in the Pool with the 
Blue Peter at her fore, and, having nearly completed her lading, 
would drop down the river on the morrow with the ebb tide 
and run round to the Downs, where she would meet her convoy 
down Channel. 

“ I have shipped myself,” said he, “ as under-boatswain, a 
downcome, I admit, but when a sailor is on his beam-ends he is 
glad of anything which will set him on an even keel, and split 
me if I be proud-stomached ! ” 

I could have wished that he had been a passenger, like Jacob 
and myself; but he vowed that such a role would never suit him, 
and that he would quarrel with the skipper in a week. 

“ Now,” said he, “ I will be aboard before you, but I have 
fallen in with some old cronies, and, stap me ! if we do not make 
a night of it. They are free-fisted, if I be poor as a ship’s rat. 
Here is a list of a few necessities which you will do well to lay 
in to-morrow in the morning, and may buy at the ship chandler’s 
shop in Thames Street, which has the sign of a frigate, and is 
kept by an ugly, circumcised son of a Jew, who will do his best 
to fleece you, so beware.” 

With that he was gone, but returned to tell us to make sure 
of meeting the ship’s jolly-boat, which would be lying at the 
landing-stage above the Tower wharf, and in which we should 
embark not later than noon. I implored him to stay with us, 
fearful lest he should get into mischief. Many things might 
befall him, for getting drunk, of which there was every proba¬ 
bility, he might miss the Kittiwake altogether, or, according to 
his own narration, he might be nabbed by the pressmen, or 
knifed in a quarrel, or smothered in the river mud. We had 
supped full of his horrors the past few evenings, and it was 
easy to imagine the worst, particularly as his state of health was 
none of the best, although he had so far recovered with truly 


The Golden Kingdom 


116 

marvellous celerity considering his years and the severity of his 
illness. The mere exhaustion consequent upon exposure and 
privation such as had prostrated him, is howbeit a very different 
thing from some disease which fastens on the vitals and surely 
saps the strength. 

He merely laughed at me, asked who had made me his wet 
nurse, and swaggered off on his unholy pleasures, leaving me 
again depressed. 

From the window I watched night -settle on the scene, and 
wondered which of the many craft was the Kittiwake , and saw 
the shadows gather over the Surrey fields and shroud the bosom 
of the swirling river. 

“ Was this,” I asked myself, and with some reason, “ the last 
night I was to spend in England?” 

So many thoughts crowded in on me in the darkness that had 
it not been for my rash promise and the fear of a worse fate I 
verily believe I would never have set foot on planking. As it 
was, the day found me sleepless and jaded, while Jacob had 
slumbered like a child and snorted like one of those unwieldy 
sea-cows which it has been my lot to watch and marvel at. 

Corkran’s list was a strange one. By his direction I purchased 
a hanger, a couple of muskets, and a supply of powder and shot, 
three hatchets, a few delicacies, such as a jar of preserves and 
conserved ginger, and a variety of dried fruits, a hat for Jacob 
and one for myself, a sufficiency of underwear and some linen of 
doubtful texture, a pair of stout shoes, and other odds and ends 
which I confess I have forgotten. I know, however, that my 
purse contents had shrunk to vanishing point when I had con¬ 
cluded, even though for once I blessed my Scots ancestor for a 
certain capacity I have in driving bargains, and was tongue-tired 
with haggling over prices. The Jew’s shop was a wonderful 
place, stored with every conceivable article, and blessed with 
a collection of odours which I have never found surpassed. 

We hired a boy to carry some of our belongings, and, having 
settled with the woman who kept the lodgings, found ourselves 
betimes at the appointed place. The boat was there, as we 
learned upon inquiry, and in charge of her was a coarse man of 


Aboard the Kittiwake 117 

sufficiently villainous appearance, who, though he evidently ex¬ 
pected us, growled at sight of our burdens, but with some show 
of politeness pointed out the Kittiwake , on whose yards the 
sailors were already busy, while her head sails were flapping at 
the ropes. Of all the vessels in the Pool she was the one to 
take the eye. Not from her size, for her tonnage, I fancied, was 
nothing great, but by reason of the sheer of her cutwater, the 
run of her long, black sides, the upward sweep of her counter, her 
low poop, and the rake of her masts. Even to my eyes she 
looked a fast ship and was evidently well armed, showing four 
guns of a side peeping from square ports, which broke the 
continuity of the broad yellow streak that traversed her hull 
below the bulwarks. 

We took our places in the boat’s stern, Jacob negotiating the 
thwarts with very cautious steps, and, as usual, filling the few 
onlookers with astonishment, while the pock-marked tarpaulin 
shouted advice at him, quaked for fear of an upset, and made 
sundry remarks on the length and bulk of his legs. I thought it 
well to take no notice of such a vulgar fellow, while Jacob merely 
blinked impassively at him. The smith would have been a 
puzzle to any one. His clothes were those of his trade, though 
he carried his apron done up into a bundle, in which, as I knew, 
his hammer was concealed. On his head, however, he wore a 
very decent laced hat, the largest in the Jew’s shop, while on his 
own account, and much to my amusement, for he was like a 
child with a gew-gaw, he had purchased a scarf of a light blue 
colour, which contrasted strangely with his jacket of buff cloth 
and jerkin lined with leather, though, as he forced me to confess, 
it formed an admirable foil to his complexion. 

As soon as the crew of four appeared, two of them at least 
the worse for liquor, we pushed off, and, describing a semicircle, 
ran alongside the vessel. She had a ladder of rope and wood, 
by which we boarded her and so reached the quarterdeck, a 
couple of the seamen following with our effects. On gaining the 
poop we were greeted by a bearded and sallow-faced man, who 
touched his hat and received us civilly, though with a very long- 
wmded speech. He was the first mate, and explained with a 


118 


The Golden Kingdom 


plethora of high-sounding words, that Captain Scudamore was 
below with the supercargo, but would make our acquaintance 

later. 

Calling a negro lad, whose ears he cuffed for no apparent 
reason, he bade him conduct us to our cabin, which we found to 
be a small and stuffy hole with a side port and two bunks. 
Knowing the anatomy of ships I was not surprised, but Jacob 
speedily discovered that his bed was at least a yard too short for 
him and was dismayed in consequence. As a matter of fact he 
had to take up his quarters on the floor, much to the entertain¬ 
ment of an army of cockroaches, as we discovered in due course. 
We did our best to be cheerful, bestowed our properties securely, 
the more so as the door was furnished with lock and key, and 
returned again upon deck to look about us. 

There could be no doubt but that the Kittiwake was a fine 
vessel. Her deck, which was flush forward of the poop, ran in 
a curving sweep to the bitts of the bowsprit, the latter being 
long, high-cocked, and very thick at the root. The bulwarks 
were lofty, and the deck works adorned by white paint, with the 
exception of a green caboose just abaft the main mast. There 
was little carving or ornament about the ship, but she looked 
well-found and speedy, something like a dark sleuthhound yet 
held in leash. She squatted low in the water, and once on board 
one could mark how beamy she was, despite her elegance. All 
was bustle and activity. From a barge alongside barrels were 
being slung up one at a time, the sails were being shaken loose, 
and there came the sound of stamping feet and a low-pitched 
song as some lusty Jacks tailed on to one of the jib ropes in the 
bows. 

A soft breeze was stealing down river, and looking over the 
side I could see that the tide had turned. The view from the 
deck was passing fair, the city sweeping in a crescent along the 
northern bank, St. Paul’s towering high over all, the bridge away 
above us, the little huddle of houses on the Surrey side, the 
broad reaches below, and the level tree-fringed fields stretching 
afar to blend with the dull, grey sky. 

I was more concerned, however, about Corkran than about the 


Aboard the Kittiwake 


"9 

prospect. There was no sign of that worthy, and eventually I 
made bold to address the first mate on the subject. He was 
a very colourless individual with sandy hair, a sandy face, and 
watery eyes in which the coloured portions were not well differen¬ 
tiated from the rest, being a pale, smudged blue. His whole 
face looked as though it had been scoured by sea breezes, and 
lashed by rain and spray till all its original hues had faded and 
blended into a prevailing whitish-brown like the tint of a weather¬ 
beaten signboard. He displayed an untidy beard, but his upper 
lip was shaven, though stubbly. It was also of an extreme 
depth, and dipped down behind its hair-decked fellow, so that the 
mouth was such as one observes in a sulky, frightened child. 

“ May I ask, sir,” said I, “ if your under-boatswain, he who 
secured our passage for us, has yet come on board ? ” 

The man straightened himself, visibly shifted a huge quid from 
one cheek to another, and fixed me with a vacant gaze. 

“ Sir,” said he, “ I perceive no reason why you may not interro¬ 
gate Barney Dickenson concerning such an occurrence.” 

I perceived, as indeed his greeting had led me to suspect, that 
this salt fancied himself a bit of a wag, though his countenance 
was as solemn as an owl’s. 

I bowed, therefore, and- 

“ Has Master Dickenson any reason which would prevent him 
replying ? ” I asked. 

“ In the positive, yea and verily,” said he, “ in the negative, why 
no, I think not.” 

His voice had a sanctimonious drawl, and as he spoke his upper 
lip rose and fell like a meat chopper, clapping finally into its place, 
and by its peculiar impact with the lower, intensifying all his 
labials, so that his p’s sounded double, and each v like the letter b. 
There was something fascinating in its movements, and I saw 
Jacob watching it with his eager, peering gaze, and following it up 
and down with his blind eyes. I recollect that I had to suppress 
a shout of laughter, for there was something irresistibly amusing 
in the scene. 

“ I gather, then, that Nicholas Corkran has not so far joined the 
ship’s company,” I said. 



120 


The Golden Kingdom 


“ If such be the cognomen of the under-bosun,” he replied, 
“your cogitations have directed you to a proper conclusion, your 
gatherings, sir, have not been in vain.” 

I looked to see if the fellow was taking a liberty with me, but 
he presented a front of the utmost gravity and seriousness. 

“Is there any likelihood of his coming soon ? ” I asked, anxiously 
enough. 

“ Celerity,” said the pedantic idiot, “ will indeed be necessary, 
for we elevate the anchor in the next quinquennium of minutes. 
Your pardon,” he added, snatched up a speaking trumpet which 
stood on the ledge of the bulwarks, and bellowed an order to 
some sailors who were laying out on the fore yard. It was short 
and to the point. Master Dickenson evidently reserved his 
peculiarities of speech for private converse. I could have wished 
that it had been the other way about. 

Despairing of getting any satisfactory information out of him, I 
withdrew, perplexed and uneasy. My fears had been realised, 
something had detained our fellow fugitive. I wondered if he had 
been pounced upon by our pursuers, and if they would discover 
our retreat. I scanned the shore, but the minutes passed and no 
boat came towards us from the wharf. What were we to do without 
the old shell back? What was to become of us ? We would soon 
be at sea in one sense, and all at sea in another, for we were like 
fish out of water on shipboard, and were ignorant as babes of the 
regions whither we were bound. In my distress I confided in 
Jacob, but he was placid as ever. 

“ What matter, doctor ? ” said he, “ we be men, not children, 
and for my part I think we are well rid of a rogue.” 

At times, I must confess, the smith irritated me, he was so dull 
in the uptake, and so lacking in imagination. Thereby, however, 
he benefited in the present instance, and shamed me at the same 
time. 

Presently there emerged from the main hatch a gentleman in 
very sober clothing, followed by an apparition in the shape of the 
skipper of the Kittiwake . I knew at once who he must be, for 
his calling was stamped on every bit of him, despite the travesty 
of his garments. If the supercargo, for so I diagnosed the first of 


Aboard the Kittiwake 


121 


the twain, was an unassuming person, Captain Scudamore made 
ample amends. He was very short and very broad, with his round 
bullet of a head sunk between his shoulders. He carried a hat 
with a profusion of gold lace on its rim, and thus his curled bob- 
wig was visible surmounting his bare, fat face and protuberant 
ears, which seemed ever on the point of flapping. His cheeks 
were intensely red, his eyes intensely blue and bulging, his nose 
prominent, his receding chin a firm lump of adiposity with two 
separate lines grooving it below his jaw. His expression was alert, 
and the way he cast his gaze about on gaining the deck struck me 
as being seamanlike. The gorgeousness of his apparel was, 
however, his prevailing feature. Imagine an embroidered lace 
cravat of a cream colour, a coat of a fine blue shade with elaborate 
cuffs, and white silk facings on the lappels. Its buttons were of 
tortoise shell and as large as crown pieces, while it had embroidered 
pocket flaps, and was decorated on the shoulders with heavy 
epaulettes. Picture, further, a crimson cloth waistcoat with long 
divided wings reaching half way down the thighs and fastened 
above with oblong ivory buttons, tipped with what I took to be 
gold. His breeches ending in black bands buckled tightly beneath 
each knee, and were white with a yellow stripe down the outer 
side of each leg, and his stockings, smooth and tight on his plump 
calves, were of a delicate flesh colour, while his low, red-heeled 
shoes were each furnished with a huge bow and buckle, and were 
very square cut at the toes. He looked for all the world like a 
parrot I had seen in the Jew’s shop, his hooked nose favouring the 
resemblance, and the fact that his face sloped backwards from his 
nostrils, despite his plenitude of chin. His trunk was thick set, 
though from the back he had some pretensions to a waist, his coat 
being pinched in above his hip bones, and his legs were bowed 
like Corkran’s, but at a greater angle. Walking with the gait of a 
dachshund he accompanied the supercargo to the side, where he 
bade him an effusive adieu, and watched him descend into the 
barge waving his hat the while, and, after glancing at us, making 
some remark apparently ludicrous, for they both guffawed with 
laughter. Then he turned and, rolling aft, climbed the poop 
stairs. 


122 


The Golden Kingdom 

I saluted him by raising my hat, and he paid me a similar 
compliment, having previously resumed his own headpiece. 

“ Ha ! ” he cried in a shrill, piping voice, “ it is Doctor Mortifier, 
no doubt. Doctor Mortifier and Mr. What’s-his-name.” 

“ Had you said Mortified,” I answered, with some attempt at 
levity, “ you had been nearer the mark ; but my name is Mortimer, 
and that of this gentleman is Little.” 

All the time his quick, prominent eyes kept shifting from one to 
the other of us, and he swayed from his heels to his toes and then 
back again from toes to heels, a great trick of his as I afterwards 
found, for he was the most restless of mortals. 

“ Mortimer ! ” he exclaimed, “ why, to be sure, a murrain on my 
memory, worthy doctor, and the other gentleman is Little, ho, 
ho, ho ! ” 

He bent double, covering his amusement by the profundity of 
his bow. Although he had a thin, high voice when speaking, it 
grew throaty as he laughed till he was chuckling like some old 
hen, and all the time titupping to and fro as though set on springs. 
For the life of me I could not help joining to some degree in his 
merriment, but Jacob did not appreciate his contortions, and, 
leaving us together, went to the side, over which he leaned, a 
gigantic picture of idleness. 

The captain having concluded his cachinnations, as the mate 
termed them, took snuff and proffered the box to me. I availed 
myself of a pinch, and had time to study the man’s face, which, I 
am free to confess, did not favourably impress me, for all his 
apparent joviality. His forehead was low, his eyes hard, his 
mouth vicious, or I was no judge of character, ay, or no leech, for 
who has more need to read men at a glance than a physician, and 
who has more opportunities both for the task and for testing the 
correctness of his observations ? 

“ But why mortified, doctor, why mortified ” ? he queried, when 
he had done sniffing, and the gurgle of his laugh had spent itself. 

“Well, Captain Scudamore,” I replied, “I am anxious at the 
non-appearance of your under-boatswain, that, I believe, is his 
correct title, who did us the favour, as you know, of securing us 
our passages, and who, I fear, will miss the ship.” 


Aboard the Kittiwake 


123 

Ere I had finished I was aware from the skipper’s face that I 
was giving him information. 

“What! what ?” said he. “’Tis true, one of my crew has given us 
the go-by, the scurvy rascal! but flog me for a horse soldier if 
he ever bargained with me ! I have never clapped keekers on 
him, Doctor Mortifex; and the other gentleman is Little! Ho, 
ho, ho!” 

Again he gurgled joyously, but it struck me his merriment was 
a trifle forced. 

“No, no,” he went on, “your business was settled with the 
owners, with that great firm of respectable merchants, sir, Knab, 
Gripper & Holdfast, of Fleet Street. But tell me now, my dear 
sir, who was this slip-the-ship who did the trick for you ? ” 

I saw no harm in telling him, so replied : 

“ Nicholas Corkran, a sailor fallen on hard times, but-” 

“Slice me!” he cried, with a long-drawn whistle, and 
pirouetted a full turn upon his toes, his coat-flaps sticking out 
stiff behind him like the spreading tail of a pouter pigeon. “ A 
moment, doctor,” he added, and piped out to the mate: “ Get 

that fore-top’sl sheeted home now, Master Dickenson, and 
then let her be hove, and smartly, for we must make the most of 
the ebb.” 

“Ay, ay, sir,” rejoined the officer, and, trumpet to mouth, he 
bawled out his orders. 

“ Aloft there, fore-topsail set and square away! Jump, ye lubbers, 
or there’ll be a rope’s end on your rumps! Forrard, stand by to 
weigh, and see all clear. Pipe to the lazy devils, bosun, or I’ll 
make them stir their shanks ! ” 

He ended with a volley of oaths, and a great slab of a man with 
a chain round his neck came out from behind the caboose, put a 
silver whistle to his lips, blew thrice shrilly, and then echoed the 
orders in a voice of thunder. 

Bare-footed mariners ran for the bows, some were busy at 
the catheads, others tailing on to the huge cable, which came 
crawling in through the hawse hole. High up on the yards, bent 
figures, like rags upon a clothes-line were busy, belly down¬ 
wards, on the heavy spars, straightening and fixing the great square 


124 


The Golden Kingdom 

sail which had been hanging in loose, crinkled folds, and now 
threshed a little as the breeze caught a corner unawares. 

“ Flay the lazy dog, Master Dickenson! ” cried the captain, 
dancing in a fury, and pointing to the hapless sailor at the 
end of the yard who, with his naked soles clutching at the bight 
of a rope, was trying in vain to gather in the flapping tail of the 
canvas. 

The mate, flinging a curse aloft, drew a thick and knotted piece 
of cord from the pocket of his rough sea jacket, sprang from the 
poop, ran to the fore shrouds, and sprawled up them like a 
monkey, plucking at the cross ropes hand over hand, and gaining 
the fore-top with astonishing rapidity. It was wonderful to see 
him spring out upon the yard and swing past the men till he 
reached the offender, when he steadied himself and soundly flogged 
the poor wretch with one hand, while he gripped a rope with 
the other, and his whole body slanted out into thin air. 

“That’s the way to serve him, doctor,” squeaked Captain 
Scudamore. “Cut his cutis, cut his cutis ! Odds fish ! but I was 
a hand at the Latin myself once. See there, he’s sheeted her home 
now, the lousy villain ! and why couldn’t he do it afore, tell me 
that, sir, tell me that ? ” 

Though I was still wondering what was the cause of his excite¬ 
ment on hearing Corkran’s name, I stood patiently and watched 
this, to me, surprising scene. True, I had been on an outward- 
bound vessel before, but she had merely been a small ketch 
running to Ostend. There had been none of this bustle and hard 
swearing and creaking of blocks and tackle, nor, for that matter, 
the quick patter of feet and the sing-song, “Yo, heave ho, my 
bullies, yo, heave and a yo, ho, ho ! ” as the row of men, some with 
coloured caps, dipped and swayed as they dragged upon the 
hawser which coiled away, wet and shining like some brown sea- 
snake, from the grasp of the last man in the line. The mate’s 
place was taken by a big, slouching fellow, the third in command, 
who was in charge of the tiller, for the anchor flukes had quitted 
the river mud, and already the vessel had way on her. 

I ran to the side and looked over the bulwarks. A swirl of water, 
dotted with cream-coloured bubbles, went curling away from under 


Aboard the Kittiwake 


12 5 


the counter, the shore began to slip past as though moving up¬ 
stream, the boatswain’s whistle shrilled again, and sail after sail 
began to break out upon the spars, while the breeze, freshening 
every minute, hummed through the taut ropes. The voyage had 
begun, we were indeed bound for Bantam, but half-relieved, half- 
perturbed, and wholly suspicious, my sole reflection was that 
Corkran and I had parted company, and that the good ship Kitti- 
wake lacked one member of her crew. 


CHAPTER XI 
THE RIVER OGOBO 

Jacob joined me as I stood deep in thought. 

“ We’re safe at last, doctor,” said he, his honest face expressing 
the satisfaction he felt. 

“ For the present, yes,” I answered, “ though even yet they 
might put off and stop us. But what of the future?” 

“ It will take care of itself,” said the philosopher; “but a ship 
is indeed a wondrous thing.” 

“ You’re right, sir,” piped the voice of Captain Scudamore; 
“ those that go down to the deep see great wonders, but the 
greatest is their floating home, provided it be handled smartly, 
and the crew well flogged. Ho, ho, ho ! Is it your first voyage, 
gentlemen ? ” 

“ Yes,” said Jacob; and “ No,” said I. 

“ I knew it,” he rejoined. “ Said I to myself, ‘ Doctor Mort- 
lake takes kindly to the smell of tar, while the other gentleman, 

whose name is Little- Ho, ho ! ’” He was beginning to laugh 

again, but checked himself as the smith’s face grew dark. “ ‘ The 
other gentleman has never rocked upon the briny.’ ” 

“You are of keen perceptions, sir,” I answered, willing to 
flatter him. 

“ You may say so, and my keenest is my sense of smell, which 
tells me dinner is served; so as it’s Dickenson’s watch we’ll 
below, gentlemen, and see what a round of beef will do for us, 
and how a glass or two of wine will moisten our throttles.” 

During the meal, which was served in a roomy cabin with stern 

126 



The River Ogobo 127 

windows, well furnished with cushioned lockers, and having a 
perfect armoury on the walls, I made bold to ask him if he knew 
anything of Corkran. 

“ Enough for my taste,” said he, a napkin tucked away at his 
neck and covering his finery; “ for I opine you have fallen foul 
of a certain Virginian who knows better than to ship with me.” 

“ An American! ” I exclaimed, remembering Corkran’s tales of 
the Potomac and the Indians. 

“So they say, and a cursedly ugly one; but tell me, my dear 
sir, is he a shock-headed man with one ear, a scarred face, and a 
trinket in his beard ? ” 

“ The same,” I answered. 

“ I knew it! ” he cried. “ Why, doctor, there’s not a sea that 
keels furrow to which this Corkran is a stranger. I knew him 
in the slave trade from Madagascar, and the son of a dog diddled 
me of a cargo. A dirty villain—oh, a very dirty villain ! ” 

“ Indeed,” said I—while Jacob nodded his head approvingly— 
“he certainly struck me as a strange mortal, but was fair enough 
in the few dealings I had with him.” 

“ To be sure—to be sure—a plausible devil, sir, I do assure 
you; but both bad and mad, cracked in the pate, a sea-poet, and 
a sea-shark, sir. You may take it from me—you are well quit 
of him.” 

“ Is he, then, void of all the virtues ? ” I asked. 

“There you have me,” said the captain, viewing his canary 
against the light with one greedy, bulging eye open and the other 
screwed up and closed fast, “ for I must allow he is a seaman, by 
all the niggers I have shipped. There is no more daring fellow 

afloat or ashore. Why-” he began, checked himself suddenly, 

and added, “ but mad, and a dirty villain—oh, a very dirty villain ! ” 

“ I can vouch for his courage,” I remarked, for, in spite of 
everything, I still felt attracted by the coxswain’s personality. 

“ What, what! But, mark you, he feared to ship with me. 
No doubt he found who commanded the Kittiwake and sheered 
off in time; for, let me tell you, he knows Benjy Scudamore— 
ay, and friend Barney, too. We have old scores to wipe off with 
that rip from the colonies.” 



128 


The Golden Kingdom 

I listened politely, yet could not help feeling that it would take 
more than Benjy and Barney combined to scare my old man of 
the sea. Still, he would naturally avoid putting himself into their 
power; but I felt that he might have informed me of his dis¬ 
covery. Howbeit, I considered it likely that he had not had time 
to tell us, while our departure could not have been longer delayed 
with any safety. Indeed, it was more than an off-chance that he 
had gained no such knowledge, but had come to grief in his 
carouse, and was even then dead drunk or fast in limbo, and, if 
so, he had been saved from further trouble; for this Scudamore 
spoke vindictively and looked an ill man to cross, while Barney 
had not found favour in my eyes, and I recalled the workings of 
his mouth and the scene on the foreyard. 

The skipper would have questioned us as to our reasons for 
visiting the Cape, but I replied vaguely, and Jacob answered him 
in monosyllables. He praised the place hugely, though he gave 
the Dutch a bad name ; and then fell to spinning us yarns which 
were very filthy in parts, and had nothing of the breathless 
interest that was the main characteristic of Corkran’s many 
tales. 

All voyages, I take it, have much in common, and it would be 
but a weariness were I to describe how we dropped down river 
and cast anchor off the Downs ere night fell; how two ships of 
war convoyed us and a crowd of other merchantmen till every 
sign of land had faded. Somewhere in Biscay Bay we parted 
company with our consorts, which were bound for the Western 
Indies, and Barney Dickenson laid the bowsprit of the Kittiwake 
on a course south by west. Meanwhile we had settled to our life 
aboard, and had enjoyed very fair weather, though a roll off the 
Cornish coast had woefully upset us, Jacob, indeed, being an 
inert mass of misery for four and twenty hours. 

Captain Scudamore thought fit to restrict us to the poop deck, 
and we were bound to obey him, though finding it irksome to 
have so limited a space for exercise. Jacob, however, was great 
at devising means for preventing us getting fat, and his methods 
of training his muscles excited the deepest interest amongst the 
crew, who were a motley set much given to dicing and penny- 


129 


The River Ogobo 

tossing. I wondered what they would have said had they 
witnessed, as I had done, the mastering of Squire Pumphret’s 
stallion. 

So quickly do events pass that I was in some danger of 
forgetting what had sent me sea-faring and cast me into uncon¬ 
genial company, for of the three sailors who were in authority I 
fancied only the second mate, a dull man of poor education, but 
at least decent in his talk—neither foul like Captain Benjy, nor 
hopelessly pedantic like Barney Dickenson. 

So we fared southwards, and if some find a long voyage a 
weariness of the flesh, I confess such was not my experience as 
we forged into warm latitudes. All day the sea smiled kindly up 
at us—a vast, level expanse of blue, clear as a painted crystal, 
over which chased the merry white caps too small to trouble us, 
and yet lively enough to make a fuss and pother about our bows 
and send jets of sparkling spray dancing upwards to burst and 
spread and dissolve into a thousand drops, which glittered like 
diamonds or shimmered in the sun’s rays like changing opals. 
In our wake a snow-white track, all froth and bubbles, ran 
wavingly astern and melted into nothing, blending with the blue 
and the tossing, snowy, wind-blown foam. Above, in a huge 
arch of steely blue, stretched the heavens, darkening towards the 
clear-cut horizon into a greenish hue like the colour on the back 
of a macke r el. Against the vault the fleecy clouds of the ship’s 
canvas dipped and swayed, or pressed on steadily, the sky 
sweeping past high above the topmasts and reeling to the norrard. 
The time might drag its heavy hours from the joyous spring of 
the sun in the east to its dip and parting wink over the world’s 
edge, far on the western line as the shadows gathered and grew, 
but to me the life was glorious. The rest and peace, the ease of 
mind and body, the carelessness begotten of sheer laziness, 2nd 
the sucking in of huge draughts of air like cool comforting wine, 
air which caused the eye to brighten and well-nigh intoxicated, 
suited me to a nicety. I staggered to the quivering pitch of the 
bows, I rolled to the quickening heel and the sideward toss, I 
hummed back to the breeze in the shrouds, and I whistled a 
response to the shrill notes of fleeting squalls flying with a van 

9 


The Golden Kingdom 


130 

guard of salt and spume between taut ropes and past canvas 
tense as drum-skins. 

I loved those latitudes stretching from the southern confines of 
Biscay Bay away to the islands which show as grey hazes in the 
morning, ebon masses at noon, and green jewels ere the day is 
done and they loom grim, vague, and forbidding at the onset 
of sudden night. Nor was the ship herself lacking in interest. 
It was to me a pleasure to watch her buffeting the billows in 
friendly play; to mark her leap like a flying-fish, or rush before 
wind like a bonito; to note the saucy way she cocked her stern 
on a wave, and her graceful dip to some roller, a stray giant 
amongst ripples ; to see the easy, oily slide of her shining, salt- 
crusted sides through the parting waters, which buoyed her and 
sported with her—all these things, I say, were to me a delight 
and wonder. So were her crew, from burly boatswain to black and 
greasy cabin-boy—the most a bronzed and hairy crowd, which 
spouted blasphemies, and spat tobacco juice, and gambled freely. 
Scudamore had them under his thumb, however, and they lived 
peaceably, coming and going round the green caboose, laying out 
aloft, trimming the sails, and manning the braces when we tacked, 
which was but rarely. Soft-footed, mossy-breasted sons of the 
sea, with loose pantaloons, greasy jackets, woollen jerseys, and 
striped or gaudy caps, they showed me a new phase of life and 
one full of interest. 

You will take me for a mere mouther of sounding words, 
however, if I carry on in this strain, and there is much to tell 
ere we come to a finish, much boring of the shell to be done or 
ever we strike the kernel of this nut, which to some may prove 
toothsome, to others merely rottenness. That is not my business. 
I am here to set down truthfully my strange experiences, so again 
we are on board the Kittiwake , of which I began to have my 
suspicions. 

Once when I had asked as to the character of her cargo, a 
quick glance had passed between Benjy and Barney, as Jacob 
called them, and it did not escape my notice. 

“ Splice me ! ” the captain had replied ; “ if I am to detail 
every article like a clerk, Dr. Mortiger (for he made pretence of a 


The River Ogobo 131 

shocking memory), I should sit here and talk till Bantam hove up 
on the port bow, or the crack o’doom split our mainsail; while, if 
friend Barney took up the’ tally, eternity would be all too short for 
the recounting. Ho, ho, ho ! n 

The mate had given a wry smile, and said deliberately: 

“Yea and verily, captain; the species of merchandise trans¬ 
ported by this fabric of wood and canvas varies in essence, 
odour, usefulness, dimensions, monetary value, and capacity of 
preservation,” whereat they had both laughed inordinately, the 
mate as though he had a pebble in his mouth, and Captain Benjy 
making a great show of stopping up his fan-like ears. 

I came to the conclusion that some form of food stuff lay in the 
hold, and that perchance we were on some kind of smuggling run. 
In part I was right; there was provender below, but the Kittiwake 
had not yet taken aboard her full lading, while those who were to 
benefit by her cargo, who were to sample the provender, had not 
yet gathered in hideous hordes beneath our counter, and beside 
our helm, had not yet taken up their ceaseless patrol or scented 
death and carnage from afar. “ A pirate ! ” you exclaim. “ A 
bloody pirate!” No, my friends; there you are wrong, as I 
fancied the navigation was, when from the compass I perceived 
we were heading to the east. 

We were now in latitudes where the sun stood high in the 
heavens, the sky was dusky with hazy heat, and the pitch soft as 
dripping in the seams. Good luck still attended us, for, though 
calmer, the breezes were yet favourable, and the sea glittered in 
countless tiny wavelets all day long, and at night a golden moon 
track wavered across the deep, and the ocean fires leaped living 
from the cut-water, glided past with trembling twinklings, and 
went dancing astern in a sheet like molten metal. 

Jacob, who had not even read of such regiohs, was entranced 
and more silent than ever with amazement; indeed, the beauty of 
the scene seemed to quieten the rough crew, though Barney 
Dickenson strove to spoil all by his wordy descriptions, and the 
hideousness of his mouth. 

Knowing as I did that the passage to the Bay of Saint Helena 
occupied at least three good weeks, I was considerably surprised 


1 3 2 


The Golden Kingdom 

one fine morning to discover we were in sight of land. The 
sticky warmth and stuffiness of the cabin were insufferable, and 
just after daybreak I mounted on deck, there to finish my broken 
sleep. What I saw, however, banished all slumber from my eyes. 
In front of us lay a long, low coast-line, clad with dense forests, 
backed in the far distance by rising ground whose black ridges 
were streaked by feathery streamers of mist, and behind which 
the sun was rising and shooting out broad beams of light like the 
spokes of some fiery wheel. Yellow strips of sand formed a beach 
every here and there, and on these patches the sea was breaking 
lazily in lines of silver, for a heavy ocean swell was rolling shore- 
wards. The Kittiwake was mounting high and sliding low as she 
took each smooth, heaving, water wall in turn, and the thunder of 
their bursting came to my ears as a solemn sea music, rhythmic 
and subdued. 

“ Was this some island, or the continent of Africa ? ” Such 
was the quession I asked myself and put to the second mate, 
John Benbow by name, who had the morning watch. 

“ It’s Africa, right enough,” said he; “ we’re in the Gulf and 
running along shore to find a certain river mouth, called in the 
chart the Ogobo. There is no need,” he added in a low voice, 
“ to say I told you this.” 

“ But what does it portend ? ” I asked. “ I understood the 
first place of call was either Saint Helena Bay or the Cape itself.” 

“ Blessed if I know, sir,” he replied ; “ sealed orders, maybe ; 
and maybe a little game o’ the skipper’s. Slaves fetch a fair price 
at the Cape I have heard.” 

“ Slaves ! ” I echoed. 

This explained many things—the reticence of both Benjy and 
Barney anent the cargo, the fact that for several days past many 
of the crew had been engaged below deck, whence had come the 
noise of hammers clattering on wood and the clink of metal upon 
metal. Not that, so far as I knew, there was any harm in an 
honourable trade; but I liked not the secrecy and the way we 
had been kept aft, and kept also in ignorance of this project. 
Fair dealing is a jewel, and this was a sneaking, dirty job. 

Moreover, I fancied a slaver would stink very vilely, and had 


The River Ogobo 133 

we been in haste we would have been wrongly delayed. Decidedly 
I had cause for complaint, and, to begin with, I took the liberty 
of going forward and descending the main hatch with the object of 
viewing the bowels of the ship. I soon found she was being fitted 
for a human cargo. There was a regular lower deck, dark and 
badly lit, but fitted up with places like stable-stalls, while to the 
shell of the ship, the bulkheads, and to posts, were fitted 
manacles, clasps for the neck, wristlets, anklets, and hooks and 
rings for the securing of ropes. It had the look of a prison-house, 
and the air even thus early was foul and hot. 

Suddenly there came to me the picture of such a place packed 
with black humanity, but I reflected the negro was used to heat, 
and no doubt was little distressed. White men would assuredly 
die under such conditions; but as for negroes, why, I knew that 
many vessels ran lucrative cargoes of slaves, so the latter must surely 
suffer but little from the confinement, and were, no doubt, well fed. 
For all that I liked not the look of the collars and the bracelets; 
but it was no business of mine, and I dismissed the thought. 

Scarcely had I regained the main deck when I was hailed from 
the poop, and there was Captain Scudamore with an ugly look 
on his parrot-like face beckoning to me, and clearly in a rage. 
I was determined to stand none of his nonsense, however, and 
walked aft very deliberately, stopping to balance to each roll 
and scanning the shore line. 

“ Blood and bones ! my fine gentleman,” cried Captain Benjy 
coarsely, “ so you will not stir your lubberly legs when I call, will 
you not ? ” 

“ If you do not mend your manners, sir,” said I, “ I will 
presently stir one of them to some purpose, as you will find; 
you seem to forget I am a private individual and a passenger.” 

“Ay, ay,” said he, cooling down a little and beginning to sneer; 
“ one who sneaks aboard without baggage to his name, and who 
breaks his word whenever my back is turned.” 

“ Harkee, sir! ” I answered. “ Had you dealt fairly and 
honourably with me, my promise would have bound me as an 
oath; but you kept us both in the dark regarding this slaving 
venture. There was never a word as to your touching here first.” 


134 The Golden Kingdom 

“ Where?” he snarled, rather taking me aback. 

“ Throw your dust in other eyes,” said I; “it needs not that 
one should be a sailor to guess why you hug a coast line with a 
lower deck fitted out as yours is.” 

“ Godam ! ” he answered; “ is every popinjay of a passenger to 
pry into sailing orders ? Methinks we do cursedly well, sir, if we 
land you at your destination.” 

“You will do cursedly better,” said I, “if you either hold your 
tongue or moderate your language,” and with that I left him, the 
mate bestowing a wink of satisfaction and approval on me as he 
caught my eye. The quarrel was unfortunate, for though the 
peppery parrot, as Jacob called him, evidently thought better of 
things, and was profuse in his apologies, I diagnosed him as a 
hollow blusterer who would do us an ill turn if he could, and 
Barney backed him, becoming offensive in a way of his own, 
and one which left no loophole for attack. He shrouded his 
meaning in such monstrous phrases that it was impossible to take 
umbrage. I deemed it wiser, however, to reload my pistols, and 
carry them on my person ; while Jacob, though he said nothing, 
oft-times played with the handle of his huge sledge-hammer as 
though it were a weapon to his liking. 

All morning we stood south following the coast, and keeping 
perchance a couple of miles from the line of breakers. The wind 
was off-shore for a wonder, as it usually blows from the sea towards 
land during daytime in these regions, and comes stealing warm 
and strong-scented from forest and morass with the sinking of the 
sun. That sun was sloping to the west ere we descried a gap in 
the shore, its sides fringed by trees. Three of them, which I 
recognised to be palms, rose high above the others, and spread 
drooping fronds in thick bunches against the sky. They formed 
a very excellent landmark, and at sight of them we made an 
offing, intending, no doubt, to beat to and fro or cast anchor. The 
wind veered, however, and we ran inshore till we were close to 
the indentation which I now saw was the mouth of a wide river, 
beyond doubt the Ogobo of which Benbow, the mate, had spoken. 

As is ever the case with the rivers in Africa there was a bar, a 
bank of sand heaped upon the sea-bottom, and over which the 


The River Ogobo 135 

swell broke in sounding surf, while above it fluttered a host of 
feathered fish-hunters crying raucously and flashing downwards 
in sundry dives. Upon a narrow white spit stalked long-necked 
birds of the crane species with great beaks and a spotted plumage. 
Some of them I noted were like sentinels, each with one leg 
drawn up, their heads and necks tucked away into their breast 
feathers, while their beaks stuck out stiff as ramrods from the 
fluffy masses of their bodies. There was a space between the two 
halves of the bar, swept clear by the river current, where was a 
channel evidently navigable, for we headed for it, under all easy 
sail. Steering to a nicety, Barney Dickenson ran us through on 
the back of a roller, and it was a fearsome sight to see the foaming 
masses on either side and hear their roaring as they plunged over 
into the still lagoon beyond. 

Such was the place in calm weather, and I for one was thankful 
that the Kittiwake had not to make the venture in time of 
tempest or when some vast swell born of stress and storm was 
hurtling itself in solid water masses over the barrier and through 
the gap. With the wind well abaft we sailed slowly some way up 
the stream, the current being sluggish; but presently the channel 
grew narrower, and two boats were lowered, which towed us 
onwards round many curves and deeper into the heart of the 
dense woods. 

Is there anything more weird than a brown, creeping, oily river 
of Africa, within the tropic belt ? I trow not. The sluggish 
Ogobo coursed seawards in the forest gloom, its banks lined here 
and there by reed patches in which lurked brilliant red flowers, 
and here and there by trees set high on snake-like roots which 
thrust upwards like black deformed fingers from out the murky 
flood. Now and then a long vista, lined by foliage, would open 
up, now and then we entered some broad reach resembling a 
lake, in which there might be a half-sunken island,, all brushwood, 
trailing creepers and gorgeous blossoms. The air was close, still 
as death, save when a distant chattering, or the shrill note of 
some bird or beast, sounded from far away amongst the wilderness 
of leaves. More than once a bird, garbed in the colours of a 
stained-glass window, shot in rapid flight from one dense wall to 


136 The Golden Kingdom 

the other, or a fish leapt into the air and fell back into its habitat 
with a sullen plunge, the water wrinkles widening out from the 
spot where it disappeared. A great melancholy got hold on me, 
and I longed to have Corkran at my elbow, so that he might tell 
me the names of the strange trees, ay, and hearten me in some 
measure. The place reeked of fever, and we passed damp and 
dismal swamps, where the forest growth was stunted and twisted, 
and where I first saw a huge water serpent coiled about a branch. 
I recalled the coxswain’s song of the sea-snake with the purple 
head, but this reptile was a mottled black and yellow, and lay 
sluggish in a lethargy. 

Jacob shivered as the horror of the scene struck upon him, 
blind though he was; but the boats’ crews, no whit concerned, 
laboured unceasingly at the oars, and at last we swung past a 
projecting tongue of land, and came in full view of a clearing 
wherein were set low, barn-like buildings, open at the sides and 
with leaf-thatched roofs. They were the barrancas of a slave 
trader. 


CHAPTER XII 


THE HAUNTED SLAVER 

The moment we hove in sight there was much blowing upon 
horns and conches by some dozen black men, whereat Captain 
Benjy gave orders that one of our guns should be fired, and the 
roar of ordnance was answered by loud cries, and the appearance 
of a European from a hut larger than others of the same kind, 
which were dotted about the open ground. 

This person embarked in a canoe paddled by brawny sons of 
Eblis, and almost before the ship had swung to her hawsers he 
was alongside. Mounting by the ladder that we had found so 
convenient, he gained the main deck, and came waddling aft to 
where Captain Benjy stood by the poop rail. 

The man was a shapeless mass of fat, and puffed and blew with 
snortings like those of the dolphins which had at times conveyed 
us on our way, and which I have, so far, passed by in silence. A 
broad-brimmed hat shaded his wrinkled, baggy visage, which was 
jaundiced in hue as were the whites of his eyes. These latter 
were black and muddy-looking, but leered expressively. His nose 
was flat, broad, and the nostrils were wide-spreading and thick 
at the margin; his lips, tinged with yellow, were coarse and 
pouting, and his clothes of some thin white cloth were dirty 
and stained. The creature was repulsive, and breathed forth an air 
of sensuality and sloth. I grieve to say, for the credit of a nation 
which has produced brave men, that this unwholesome visitor was 
a pure son of Portugal; at least so he affirmed, but I take it he 
was both a liar and a mulatto, a cruel and crafty half-caste trader. 


137 


The Golden Kingdom 


i 3 8 

Captain Scudamore, in all the magnificence of his complete 
uniform, put him utterly to shame, though only in an abstract 
sense, I fear. Jose, I felt certain, was long since beyond the 
reach of any decent feelings. He noticed Jacob and myself, and 
evidently questioned Benjy concerning us. What the latter said 
I could not hear, but it afforded them both much amusement, 
somewhat to the ruffling of my serenity. I could not forget how 
the captain and the supercargo had gurgled together, and re¬ 
membered that it was after the former had turned to look at us. 
“ Was there some treachery afoot ? ” I asked myself. 

Scudamore and the Portuguese went below, and Jacob and I 
were left to amuse ourselves watching the empty barrancas, the huts 
round which a few hens picked up a living, a monkey fastened to a 
post, and the background of scrub and tall trees, some shaped like 
fans, others with wide drooping leaves, others again with long thin 
stems, and a profusion of dull green foliage. No boat passed 
from the ship to the shore, and the village seemed utterly deserted, 
save for a few natives who squatted on their hams and gazed 
intently at the Kittiwake. 

Suddenly from out the forest screen there rose a wild scream, 
followed by a noise like the cracking of a whip trace. From the 
huts several figures immediately appeared which joined with those 
upon the shore in again blowing the horns and conches, at sound 
of which the trader came up on deck, with Captain Benjy hard on 
his heels. 

“It will be the caravan,” said John Benbow to me, and he 
was right. 

From a part where the trees were thin and the bush less dense, 
there emerged the first of what proved to be a long line of naked 
blacks, marching two and two, many with yokes binding them 
by the neck, and some with their hands fastened behind their 
backs. Even at the distance I noticed there were women amongst 
them, who stumbled wearily, while some had babes at the breast. 
A few little children were upon the flanks of this multitude, which 
was controlled by overseers armed with whips. These they did 
not spare, lashing the laggards vigorously, and having a special 
affection for the lean shanks of the helpless slaves, which, as I 


The Haunted Slaver 


*39 

thereafter found, are the most sensitive parts of a negro’s body. 
One poor creature fell, and was flogged and kicked unmercifully 
till he got upon his feet again and marched forward with the 
others. Out from the wood they filed, more than a hundred in 
number, and the sight afforded Jose a lively satisfaction. He 
rubbed his fat hands together, and I noticed his stumpy fingers 
were loaded with rings, and that his pierced ear-lobes carried 
each a piece of jewellery. 

“Ver goot, Senor Capitan,” said he; “ees it ship at vonce or 
in zee mornings time?” 

“What, what! ” replied Scudamore. “ Now ? Devil a bit, my 
yellow phiz, we’ll have them aboard first thing after daybreak. 
Why, ’twill be dark in a twinkling, so you can feed the swine for 
another night.” 

“ Feed, oh yis ! if zey be not too mooch fat at vonce,” answered 
Jose, honouring his paltry jest with a laugh in which Benjy joined, 
tee-heeing shrilly, as was his wont. 

Thereafter Jose, after favouring us with a bow, descended to his 
canoe, and was paddled ashore, where already the caravan was 
being bestowed under the roofs of the barrancas. 

“Jacob,” I whispered, “this slaving seems to me a very 
dirty business,” and though the smith did not reply, I knew he 
thought as I did, for he was blinking rapidly with his blind eyes, 
having for all his size a very kindly heart, and being, as I have 
said, most admirably simple. 

Now there be many who say the negro has no soul, who 
class him with the brutes that perish, and rank him as a beast 
of burden and a creature only fit to labour for the white 
man without wage or reward. I, Doctor Henry Mortimer, 
hold no brief for any son of Ham. I know his faults and 
deficiencies, I am aware he is low in the human scale, not to 
be pampered, and to be kept in subjection, but I submit that he 
is a fellow mortal and should be treated as such, and not as 
though he were some vile and stinking beetle. His woes and 
sufferings had not touched me before I sailed up the river Ogobo, 
I knew nothing of what passed in far-away corners of the earth, I 
was ignorant of the horrors of the slave march, of the hideous 


140 


The Golden Kingdom 

holds of slave ships, of the appalling cruelties perpetrated by men 
who call themselves Christians. Slavery is no doubt right and 
fitting, but for God’s sake let it be merciful, and not a curse and 
blot upon civilisation. I have said enough, let my tale be my 
pleader, and if I recount horrors, let it not be thought I do so 
gladly, or that I am a liar, like Jose the Portuguese. I merely tell 
the true tale of that haunted slaver, the English ship, the 
Kittiwake. 

Jacob and I were up betimes the next morning, and watched 
the embarkation of the slaves, whose numbers had been aug¬ 
mented during the night by another and a smaller caravan. 
They were packed into flat-bottomed boats, rowed across to us 
and forced on deck with many blows and curses which threw Jacob 
into a frenzy of wrath. It was as much as I could manage to 
restrain him from doing somebody a violence; but though I 
sympathised with him, it was madness to think of interfering, there 
being guards with flint-locks at the gangway and Barney 
Dickenson, armed to the teeth, keeping a watchful eye on us. 

A pitiful sight it was to witness the poor creatures passed 
below. They were all young or in the prime of life; the men, 
fine, muscular fellows, wearing a sullen or brutalised look, the 
women, ugly as sin, no doubt, with pendant breasts and greasy 
bodies, but timid and shrinking, like the poor children whose 
hands they clasped. No doubt they stank, no doubt their hair 
was but a frizzed wool, no doubt they were more than half-naked 
and had hideous noses and blubber lips and coarse ears and the 
eyes of hunted animals, but they were flesh and blood, ay, with 
crusted red upon their scored backs and great sores upon their 
shin-bones. 

Flesh and blood, said I ? nay, rather skin and bone, with sunken 
cheeks and huge malar arches, with bulging ribs and lean bony 
hips, with skinny legs sad to see, especially amongst the 
little ones. 

I could only hope they would fare better aboard than they had 
done in the custody of Jose’s vile overseers. Indeed, I reflected 
it would be Captain Benjy’s interest to feed them well so that 
they might fetch better prices in the market at the Cape, which, 


The Haunted Slaver 


I 4 1 


after all, was not now so very far away. Fool that I was; little 
had I gauged the depth of the wickedness of these two villains 
Captain Benjy Scudamore and Barney his mate. 

As soon as the slaves were all aboard, driven below, and the 
main hatch clapped on the combings, the crew began to raise 
cargo from the forehold, no doubt as payment for our living 
freight. Kegs of powder and of shot were lowered into the boat; 
packages of food and clothing, and a barrel or two of wine or rum 
or brandy. Other bales were also landed, which Benbow told me 
contained beads, glass trinkets, hatchets and knives for barter, 
and muskets for the subduing of any resistance to the raids of the 
slavers. 

At last all was ready for sea, and Jose, who had been drinking 
in the chief cabin and had concluded his bargain, returned on 
deck and made as though to descend into his canoe. Jacob, by 
this time regardless of what Captain Benjy might say, had 
sauntered along by the bulwarks and now stood close to the gap 
in them below which the side-ladder was fixed with iron hooks. 
I had no idea he meditated any mischief, but, feigning to be 
blinder than he really was, and taking advantage of a coil of rope 
lying on the deck he contrived to stumble over the latter and go 
staggering against the fat Portuguese, who was straightway sent 
flying into the air clean over his canoe, and so fell plump into the 
river. The hubbub which ensued was deafening, and I shook 
with laughter as I saw the scared and wrathful trader dragged into 
his craft soaking wet, spitting water and spluttering out oaths, 
while his hat drifted down stream and the crew of the Kittiwake 
grinned at him in derision. 

Two men, however, by the captain’s orders, for he had fallen 
into a towering passion, sprang at the smith before he could rise, 
and laid hold upon him. Better would it have been for them 
had they held aloof. With one heave Jacob was upon his feet, 
grasping a luckless mariner in each hand. In vain they kicked 
and struggled and squirmed in their efforts to get free. Jacob 
swung one into the air as though he were about to pitch him over 
the side, but, being very merciful at heart, he merely tossed him 
along the deck as one might toss a ball, and then sent his fellow 


142 


The Golden Kingdom 

sprawling after him, so that they both sat where they fell, bruised, 
disconsolate, and very rueful of countenance. The smith beamed 
upon them with the greatest of good humour, nodded genially to 
Benjy as if to show how he appreciated the little jest the captain 
had provided, and wandered aft to join me who all this time had 
kept a hand on the butt of one of my pistols in case necessity 
should force me to use it. Happily Scudamore was too scared 
by this exhibition of strength to make any threatening movement, 
and he relieved his feelings by swearing back at Jose, so that the 
anchor was weighed amidst a babel of blasphemies and recrimi¬ 
nations, and in this very auspicious manner we started to traverse 
once more the waters of the Ogobo. One boat took a rope ahead 
of the ship, another kept one taut astern and so prevented the 
Kittiwake swinging broadside on to the current. 

Captain Scudamore, despite his burst of rage, was highly 
satisfied. The caravans had come in at the proper moment, and 
we had only passed one night in those dangerous latitudes, so that 
he trusted the health of the crew would not suffer. 

His expectations were not justified. As the weather was still 
calm we again crossed the bar in safety, and I, for one, was not 
sorry to watch the coast-line grow faint and indistinct and hear 
the slapping of healthy wavelets against the stout timbers of the 
slaver instead of the lap, lap of the brown and stealthy waters of 
the fever river. 

At the same time I was troubled about our position on board. 
Jacob had always been a source of wonder to the crew on account 
of his size and other peculiarities. In all probability he was 
now viewed in the light of an enemy. I soon found we were to 
be left much to ourselves, for even Benbow kept apart, though 
I knew he wished us well. 

Beyond passing the time of day we ceased to hold converse 
with Benjy or Barney, though we sat at the same table and ate 
the same ship’s food, now grown distasteful to our palates. A 
capon or two from the trader’s village soon vanished, chiefly down 
the captain’s gullet, as the carving fell to him, and we returned to 
our salted meat and other delicacies. 

So passed a day or two, but in that period several things 


The Haunted Slaver 


H3 

happened. Three negroes died and were hove overboard like 
carrion. I offered my services, hoping to. aid the sick; but 
the skipper merely looked me up and down, without a word, 
in a manner intended to be very fine, but which reminded me 
of a parrot following the movements of a finger held in front 
of him. 

Thus we fed the sea with dead, and the sea-scavengers scented 
prey, and were presently upon our track, a couple of those hideous 
snouted fish, with curved mouths set far back, lined by row upon 
row of cutting teeth. Every morning I noted their shadowy 
bodies lying astern, swimming slowly, but easily keeping up with 
the ship, or marked their sharp back-fins slicing through the 
surface, above which a curving length of tail now and then showed 
as well. The corpse would splash alongside, and in a moment 
our followers were gone, rushing to worry and tear in a way which 
sickened me with horror. Their feast over, they were again with 
us, their little pig-like eyes turned up as though in expectation, 
while now and then they half-turned lazily upon their sides and 
showed a gleam of white bellies and the cruelty of their maws. 

Very soon they had variety in their diet. One of the crew fell 
ill, and although I was permitted to attend him, I could do nothing 
for his vomitings and raging fever, and he also, without prayer or 
service, and despite my protests, went overboard to the hunting, 
haunting sharks. 

Nor was this all. One night, being unable to sleep by reason 
of the heat, I was lying upon my bunk bathed in sweat and listen¬ 
ing to Jacob’s snorings, when I heard faint and indistinct, but 
none the less surely, the sound of singing. It was the merest 
trace of a melody, coming in snatches which I had to strain my 
ears to catch, but beyond doubt some one was lifting his voice in 
song away in the bowels of this accursed ship. It was no sea- 
strain from the foc’sle, for it was the dead of night, and, besides, 
this lilt was of such a tenor as to make my skin creep. It was 
inexpressibly weird and mournful. At once my thoughts sped 
back to Corkran and the most eventful night of my life, but I 
smiled at my folly. Some wretched slave was perchance piping a 
mournful ditty of Africa, recounting his sufferings, for, as I live, 


144 The Golden Kingdom 

the cadence had in it something which suggested the idea of a 
lost soul. 

The next morning another negro, this time a woman, went 
as largesse to our pensioners. 

Shocked and disgusted, I hesitated no longer, and taking the 
matter in my own hands I went below. The slave deck was a 
hell, the air most foul and sta,le and stinking, the planks filthy, 
the wretched creatures dying for want of Heaven’s breezes, for a 
breath of what was lavished on us above, for a sight of the sun, 
and perhaps, more than all, for lack of hope, and from the rusting 
of the fetters of despair into their sinking hearts. I could do 
nothing but expostulate and urge that they should be brought up 
on deck in batches. I pointed out that it was merely common 
sense, and that to do so would benefit the captain’s own pocket, 
but I reasoned, ay, and stormed in vain. To my mind the mere 
fact that I voiced the suggestion stiffened his neck and made him 
play the fool. He forbade me to go near his cargo, but I snapped 
my fingers at him, and now and then took them scraps of food or 
a measure of wine. They showed no gratitude, save one mother 
whose child was dying, and in due course found a hideous grave. 
Were I so minded I might write pages on this matter and conjure 
up visions of that nightmare between decks ; but I refrain, partly 
because it scarce bears repetition, partly because I have yet much 
to tell and fear to lose the thread of my narrative. 

There was no singing the next night, but something which, to 
me, was even more surprising. I resolved to sleep on deck, 
despite the fact that the moon was full and its light said to be 
dangerous. The sun sank to his rest, tinging the whole ocean a 
blood-red hue, while the horizon was one flaming mass of crimson 
and yellow, streaked with purple clouds, which had salmon-tinted 
linings, and changed in colour every moment. I noted, as I had 
done before, that the orb of day set far out beyond our bowsprit, 
therefore our coast was still westerly, a fact which perplexed me 
not a little. The light faded, the brilliance of the scene was lost 
in shadow, and black darkness swept down on us for a space, 
though silver stars shone and twinkled in every quarter of the 
vault, some being of an extraordinary brightness. 


The Haunted Slaver 145 

Presently, at one spot there came a shimmer of light upon the 
very verge of the ocean, and then there crept into view the golden 
rim of the queen of night. Slowly the moon rose, and a myriad 
sparkles stretched from it in a broadening track till the whole 
heavens were flooded with radiance and a wide patch of sea 
glittered as though set with spangles. It was exceeding beautiful, 
but, God knows, I had just then no eye for the loveliness of nature. 
And why ? you ask. Because of the misery below, because of fear 
or anxiety, because of the knowledge of man’s wickedness and 
cruelty ? Not so, but because of what I saw clearly outlined 
against the great yellow ball on the horizon. It was no other than 
a man’s bare head. The outline of human shoulders cropped up 
above the bulwarks and on these was set the head, the back of 
which was towards me, but what caused my pulse to quicken, and 
fixed my gaze, and roused in me a multitude of speculations and 
a vague hope was the fact, believe it or not as you will, that against 
the full face of the moon I plainly saw an ear projecting on one 
side of the head, while there was no such expansion on the other. 
I shifted my position, but there was no change in the outline of the 
head. On one side, the right side, it swept from hair to neck in an 
unbroken line, on the other was the edge of the auricle blending 
below with the curve of the skull. What being was this who gazed 
at the rising moon, and then, for the head vanished as I stared at 
it, was gone silently and suddenly into the shadow of the caboose? 
Was there any man of the crew so deformed ? I could not recall 
any such. The shape of the skull was not that seen in the negro, 
and it was unlikely any slave could slip on deck. By all the fiends! 
could this be Corkran ? I asked myself, and a moment later was 
striving to remember which ear it was that had been severed with 
his scalp, for he had told me the full tale of his mutilation when 
we were in hiding in London. I could not decide the question, 
but of this I was very sure, the slaver Kittiwake was haunted by 
two prowling fish of prey, by some one who sang at dead of night 
somewhere in her depths, and by the figure of a man who, as I 
am a truthful mortal, lacked the ear of one, and that the right side 
of his mysterious head* 


10 


CHAPTER XIII 
THE HAMMER OF THOR 

As may well be imagined, I had little sleep that night. My brain 
was so devoted to the consideration of this matter that it had 
neither time nor inclination to rest. Step by step I went over the 
arguments for and against the presumption that Nicholas Corkran 
was on board. 

I am not minded to trouble the reader, if such there be, with 
my cogitations. Suffice it to say I could come to no conclusion, 
though I felt certain that if any man could exist in the bowels of 
a ship for many days and keep his presence there a secret, that 
man was the sailor from the Americas, whose lot had become so 
strangely mixed up with mine. I resolved to tell Jacob nothing, 
for he had no great love for the old rip, and a secret was, in any 
case, safer within one cranium than shared betwixt two. Grant¬ 
ing Corkran did own that head which I had seen against the 
moon, what I could not fathom was his object in playing such 
a prank. He must have suffered a plenitude of inconveniences, 
especially since the blacks were stowed away in the death-trap 
below, and, hardy man though he was, I knew he loved the fresh 
air and the sunlight. It may have been his only safe way of 
accompanying us, I at length reflected, and, so thinking, felt again 
that odd affection for him which I had before entertained, some¬ 
what to my own undoing. 

On recovering from my stupefaction, I had darted forward and 
descended to the main deck, but had searched in vain for the 
figure I sought. 


146 


The Hammer of Thor 


I 47 

Benbow, who was officer of the watch, had apparently not 
remarked the black outline of the earless skull, and I was careful 
not to mention the subject to him, but lay idly in my bed-clothes 
on the poop planking, and was delivered of these vain imaginings 
which I have so briefly put on record. 

Towards morning the weather changed. The fiery sunset and 
the wondrous afterglow had not been there for nothing, and the 
day broke grey and sullen, while we ran into a lumpy, mud- 
coloured sea, and from the wave-tops little spurts of spray shot 
forth viciously at the bidding of a rising breeze. That breeze, 
ere long, quickened into a half-gale, and for the first time the 
Kittiwake plunged like a restive horse, and swept nose deep 
through the surges with scanty canvas. Darker grew the sky, 
there came a roll of thunder, and a few distant lightning flashes. 
Every moment the gusts grew more furious and shrilled more 
loudly through the rigging, while a warm rain pattered in heavy 
drops upon the deck. 

With a crack like that of a dozen muskets discharged in a 
volley a sail split from yard to yard, and in a twinkling was nought 
but a few fluttering rags streaming to leeward and beating 
furiously on the spars. Long lines of charging waves chased each 
other across the face of the deep, and went roaring and seething 
and hissing beneath the keel. We staggered along down wind, 
but the sea followed fast, till Captain Benjy, afraid of being 
pooped, wore ship in a very masterly way, and soon we were 
riding it out, sliding up and sliding down, for the Kittiwake was 
buoyant as a gull. 

Jacob, though I knew him to be a brave man, was prostrate 
with fear, for he hated the ocean, and had done so ever since the 
Channel heave had robbed him of one good meal at least. 

Having got my sea legs long since, I, on the whole, enjoyed 
the turmoil and the buffetings, though at first a trifle scared to 
see the breaking crests which now and then came thundering, 
solid and threatening, over the cat-heads, and swept, hissing and 
gurgling, to the scuppers. 

Like some duck the gallant ship shook herself free, however, 
and though trembling at the shocks, she ever rose triumphant, 


148 The Golden Kingdom 

flinging the salt spume from her jibboom, shaking her clean-cut 
bows, and darting joyously to meet and mount her next eager, 
foam-clad adversary. 

It was all very well on deck, but from below one could hear, 
even though the hatches were battened down, the muffled sound 
of wailing and lamentation. 

Shut up in the pitch darkness, in the stifling hold, tossed this 
way and that, with limbs breaking and hearts aquiver with terror, 
it was no wonder the wretched slaves gave vent to their misery. 
Barney Dickenson, who, with two brawny seamen, was at the 
swinging tiller, cursed them like the brute he was, but I am free 
to confess that I felt full of compassion for the unfortunates 
whom I could in no way succour. 

At the hour of sunset the wind fell rapidly, as did the sea, till 
he slaver rode upon a smooth swell, which lessened in volume 
as the minutes sped. Even then, however, I was quick to notice 
a sluggishness about her movements. At all times low in the 
water, and drawing more than ever since the negroes had been 
packed away, she yet seemed to me to have settled deeper. She 
rose heavily and with a lurch, she tilted lazily, she staggered in 
her descents. I saw the skipper look over the side, and then he 
ran forward, dived into the foc’sle, and disappeared for a time, 
After a little a sailor came staggering aft, mounted to the poop, 
tugged at his forelock, and addressed Barney Dickenson in a 
voice intended to be low, but loud enough for me to hear him. 

“ Cap’n says to man the pumps, sir; the carpenter has sounded 
and finds water in the well-” 

The mate checked him with a mouth-filling oath, and then, 
seeing I was listening, drew him aside, and no doubt found how 
many feet the carpenter had measured and the extent of the 
danger. 

A moment later the boatswain’s whistle blew a series of warning 
notes, and the crew fell to the job most hated by seamen—the 
weary labour at the pumps, to the sound of splashings and the 
sobbing of the plungers. 

“ How well Corkran’s song pictured the scene ! ” thought I, as 
I watched them. 



The Hammer of Thor 


149 


So we had sprung a leak, and it might be that death faced us ! 

The Kittiwake carried three boats, two very large, the other a 
gig. In event of her foundering they would accommodate the 
crew and Jacob and myself; but I thought of the slaves, and 
turned sick at heart. Ay, and I remembered also the vision of 
the previous night, and wondered if this catastrophe would drive 
any lurker, any stowaway, on deck. No one would tell me 
the real risk we ran,—Benbow, because he was ignorant of it; 
Barney, because he delighted in seeing me on tenter-hooks of 
anxiety. 

Clank, clank! There is no sound more melancholy on ship¬ 
board than the dreary music which is too often the prelude to 
a burial, the burial of a gallant ship and gallant men fathoms 
deep amongst the shell-fish and the coral and the age-old slime 
of the sea-bottom. 

Clank, clank ! So it went on all night, a fight for the mastery ; 
relay after relay working till they were spent, but though we kept 
the leak under, we did not lessen the water in the hold by one jot 
or tittle. 

Clank, clank! Jacob and I laboured and sweated with the 
rest, and others provisioned the boats and got everything in 
readiness to leave the vessel. A sail dragged beneath the keel 
was tried, but failed to help us; the strained plank or started butt 
could not be found, it seemed as though we were doomed. 

Captain Benjy, who, though he fumed and fussed, was a navi¬ 
gator and seaman of no mean parts, came to the conclusion that 
the leak was fairly high up, and that by lightening the ship we 
might get at it. Consequently they began to jettison the cargo, 
and to drop every gun but one over the side. All manner of 
barrels and bales went bobbing astern, the cannon splashed and 
vanished, but to no purpose. 

Fortunately it fell very calm in the morning, but to add to the 
horror of the situation, there began to gather round us the raven¬ 
ing monsters of the deep. Some dead slaves had been sent 
adrift, and no doubt these attracted our old pensioners and others 
of their kind, or perchance some strange instinct warned them 
that in addition to these pickings there might yet be a veritable 


150 The Golden Kingdom 

feast spread for them in this lonely spot amongst the waste of 
waters. 

Strong and hot rose the sun, and threw his beams on a ship¬ 
load of weary and disheartened men and a slaver from whose 
hold rose to heaven a multitude of piteous cries. The negroes 
must have known what those monotonous noises on deck meant, 
and apprehended no other fate than that of being drowned like 
rats in a hole, hence their miserable outcry. 

Captain Benjy ordered the hatches to be again clapped on, but 
by this time the crew had gathered in the bows, and presently 
sent a deputation aft, headed by the boatswain, whose efforts to 
explain the wishes of his comrades and yet not offend his 
superiors were worthy of a diplomatist. It seemed that the crew 
had for several nights heard the strange singing, and were scared 
thereat, imagining the vessel to be haunted by the ghost of that 
member of their mess who had died with much sweating and 
vomiting, and who had been cast like a dog to the finned fiends 
which quartered our track and looked to us for meat. 

The captain listened gravely and with all attention to this 
statement. 

“ What, what! ” said he. “ But this is most villainous super¬ 
stition ! splice me if ’tis not. But let it rest, let it rest. And have 
you, then, any remedy to suggest ? Have my babes yonder, whom 
I thought to be stout bullies, any ideas on the subject, think you, 
my friend?” 

“Weel, sir,” said the boatswain, who was a Scot, “I’m no 
verra sure, but I jalouse frae their clishmaclavers that they 
wadna’ mind gin they had to tak’ to the boats and quit the bit 
barkie a’thegither. I’m no sayin’ I think the same, but it’s a 
fearsome sound o’ nichts, for I’ve heard it maser, and forbye 
there’s sax feet o’ wabblin’ water in the forepeak.” 

“ Ay, ay! ” said Benjy; “ and six feet of wabbling fat four 
feet from my nose.” 

He paused, and I looked for a storm; but an idea seemed to 
strike him. 

“ Go and tell my brave boys,” said he, “ that I am considerably 
beholden to them for their information and suggestion as to the 


The Hammer of Thor 


l 5 l 

management of this, my ship, and that the first mate and I will 
take it ad avizandum. There’s a fine lawyer’s phrase for my 
unweaned calves to chew the cud upon with their jaw tackles.” 

Having delivered himself of this peculiar simile, he summoned 
Barney, and the pair of them vanished below, to reappear again 
ten minutes later, while all the time the pumps clanked steadily, 
and the fate of the Kittiwake hung in the balance. 

Barney, who rarely issued an order save through his speaking- 
trumpet, now bellowed a command that the crew should lay aft, 
and then hinted, none too politely, though with much circumlocu¬ 
tion, that he could dispense with my presence and that of Jacob. 

I replied firmly that we had as much at stake as any one else, 
and a perfect right to listen to the captain, as the safety of the 
vessel and all on board was concerned. 

“ Let the learned gentleman stay, by all means,” sneered 
Scudamore, rocking from his toes to his heels. “ Oh, yes, let 
him stay, mayhap he also will continue to teach Captain Benjy 
how to manage his affairs.” 

It was on the tip of my tongue to tell him he had more need 
of some one to instruct him in manners and deportment; but I 
refrained, for it was no time to quarrel, with the hold awash, the 
crew inclined to mutiny, and half a dozen huge fish of prey 
rubbing themselves on our keel and nosing our rudder. 

“ Now, my merry crew,” continued this would-be cynic, “ many 
a ship master would have clapped half of you in irons, and 
flogged you to boot, while in my day I have served with men who 
would have thought nothing of running a couple of the ugliest 
of you up to yonder yard-arm. Nay, more, had Jack Kidd fallen 
foul of you, he would have spread-eagled a few of you with your 
mugs to the keelson, and let the barnacles rip you on one side 
and Jack shark do the same on the other. Do you hear that ? ” 

The sullen crowd backed away a little from this imaginative 
commander, who strutted up and down as he spoke, and kept 
fingering the hoop of his hanger. For his part, he leaned over 
the poop-rail, repeated his last sentence with the full vigour of 
his squeaky voice, and again resumed his promenade and his 
address 


152 The Golden Kingdom 

“ Do you hear that ? Ay, you may slink, you dogs, but thank 
your stars that Captain Benjy was born merciful. Now, harkee ! 
my mate Barney has heard this voice o’ nights, and it is no more 
a ghost than the bosun’ there. You might go, every one of you, 
to starve and madden in the boats, but I have my good 
passengers to consider. Oh, yes, there are the passengers, and I 
will be merciful to you, even at the cost of my cargo.” 

I could scarcely believe my ears, and yet I was not deceived. 
There was something behind all this concern for Jacob and 
myself, and presently it was apparent. 

“Amongst the black ivory below,” continued Scudamore, 
“ there is an evil rascal of a Ju Ju, or an Obi man, who is work¬ 
ing a spell on us, and praying and singing to his fetish. Had I 
time, I would single him out, and then short shrift to the rogue; 
but it is better to make a clean sweep. In this way we rid the 
ship of the sorcerer, and lighten her at the same time, so that 
haply we may reach the leak, and make all taut. One good white 
Christian is worth a hundred ebony heathen, but I am a man 
with huge bowels of compassion, and Heaven forbid that I should 
proceed to any such extremities ! Howbeit, mark you, if we sink 
there is no room for the black swine in the boats, so it’s all 
square in whatever manner you look at it. It would appear the 
slaves must drown in any case. The only question is, are you to 
drown along with them, or are you not? It is no concern of 
mine, so, my bullies, settle it amongst yourselves. Will you 
heave the niggers overboard, or will you not?” 

I was aghast at this terrible suggestion. I could scarcely 
believe the weight of our living freight made much difference to 
the water-line, and it seemed to me that this inhuman monster was 
but doing his best to get the crew to remain and help him to save 
the ship, no matter what the sacrifice might be. I knew he 
prided himself inordinately on the fact that he had never yet lost 
a vessel. It was his boast that neither by faulty navigation, by 
wind nor wave, by uncharted reef, by mutiny nor piracy, had he 
been forced to relinquish his command in a career of twenty and 
odd years. I have called him an inhuman monster, and yet there 
was sense in what he said if the ship was doomed as she the 



The Hammer of Thor 


*53 

My reason told me so, though my mind shrank from contemplating 
the execution of his suggestion. His allusion to his passengers 
had been cunningly contrived, and I fancied that Barney had a 
hand in it from the smirk on the latter’s face. It made it difficult 
for us to oppose the captain’s plans, for that the pair had devised 
this procedure and meant to carry it out there could be no doubt. 
I have ever had the faculty of seeing both sides of a question, 
the which is not an unmixed blessing, for it often prevents rapid 
resolution and speedy action, and may blunt the sense of right and 
wrong. There is, I verily believe, an argument to be found for 
every evil deed ever perpetrated. Excuses, I take it, are the most 
easily discovered treasures in the world. To be sure this quality 
of mind is a very excellent thing in the case of a physician who 
has lost a patient and has a few qualms of conscience concerning 
the treatment he adopted, but it is altogether out of place under 
such conditions as confronted me on the poop of the slaver. 

Fortunately Jacob, who was never troubled by delicacies, solved 
the riddle in a way very much his own. He also heard Captain 
Benjy’s speech, and, apparently unnoticed by any one but myself, 
vanished down the after-hatch which led from the poop to the 
stern cabins. When he appeared again he bore a bundle, his 
smith’s apron, in the folds of which, as I knew, the great sledge 
hammer was concealed. 

Meanwhile, to do the crew justice, a chill of horror fell upon 
them. They were silent, and stood shuffling their feet uneasily 
and looking at each other with faces full of dread. It was easy to 
see that this alternative was not to their taste. Captain Benjy had 
shifted the responsibility on their shoulders, and they were sheep 
to be driven, servants, and not masters. To this day I can recall 
the scene : Benjy, gorgeously apparelled, moving restlessly about 
on his bowed legs as he awaited the crew’s decision; Barney 
standing beside him with his hands deep in his pockets, his sandy 
visage impassive, his lower lip shut tight upon its fellow; the 
crowd of men forward, eager, yet with hang-dog looks ; the sweep 
of the curving deck, the green caboose, the round trunks of the 
masts, the high-cocked bowsprit, the hanging sails, the rope-tags, 
the pumps clanking dismally, the splash of the spouting waste, and 


154 The Golden Kingdom 

the incessant and lamentable clamour of the slaves. Yes, and I 
can see myself, irresolute, a poor figure, and Jacob with his 
mysterious bundle, and the light of a great resolve upon his 
countenance. To him this plan was wholly brutal and abominable, 
and, therefore, it was to be checked. He had a great faith in the 
Almighty, and in letting things take their own course. The 
curious thing is that he regarded them as having done so even if 
he interfered. It, was, however, quite otherwise did any other 
party seek to create a diversion. His logic was to me incompre¬ 
hensible, but he backed it by arguments, the force of which none 
could deny. They were those of sheer animal strength and 
dauntless courage. 

What might have happened it is hard to say, but as the crew 
stood irresolute, the captain, who could see over their heads, 
uttered an exclamation, and called out to the mate. I ran to the 
rail and was in time to witness the main hatch fall back on the 
planks and a huge negro rise through the opening. He sprang on 
deck, and a second followed him, while the round woolly poll of a 
third came cropping upwards. 

The slaves had broken loose and were swarming up from below ! 

Barney, however tedious in speech, was no laggard in action. 
In a second he whipped out a pistol, levelled it at the unarmed 
negro who headed the others, and fired. The man sprang into 
the air like a buck when it is shot, and collapsed, limp and 
motionless on the planking. Whether necessary or not, this was 
murder, slaughter in cold blood, and at the sound of the report a 
frenzy seemed to take the crew. They rushed in a body at the 
two slaves who had also gained the deck, and in a trice had run 
them, shrieking with terror, to the side, and hove them overboard, 
pitching also to the sharks the corpse of the poor wretch whom 
Barney’s bullet had struck down. I doubt not but that the other 
slaves would have shared a similar fate had it not been for Jacob. 
Like me, he was surprised at the suddenness with which the 
tragedy had occurred, but the three distinct splashes were scarcely 
at an end when he quickened to action. 

“ Draw on the villains, doctor ! ” he roared, and flinging aside 
the apron, revealed the hammer in his hands. 


The Hammer of Thor 


1 5 5 

With one bound he was at the head of the poop stairs, with 
another he was on the main deck, and a clumsy run carried him 
to the hatchway. I could only watch him with the tail of one 
eye, for at his cry I made ready one of my barkers, and shouted 
out to Benjy and his mate, “ Stir as much as a finger at your 
peril! ” 

I had them at an advantage, and well they knew it, standing 
rooted to their respective spots as though turned to stone. I 
think it was the first time I had ever seen Captain Benjy perfectly 
motionless. 

When I could risk a mometary glance at Jacob, I found he had 
himself clapped on the heavy hatch, a prodigious effort, and was 
now standing astride it swinging his weapon lightly, making play 
with it delicately and in a most innocent fashion. The crew were 
clustered together, staring at him in amazement, as well they 
might. The man looked enormous. His attitude was defiant, 
even though he smiled pleasantly and toyed playfully with his 
hammer. He towered to his full height, his head thrown back, 
his shoulders braced squarely, and then, grasping the handle in 
one hand, he rolled up the sleeve of his right arm above the 
elbow, and displayed the gnarled and knotted muscles which 
controlled the movements of his great bones. Shifting the hammer, 
he bared his other forearm, and then nodded to the assembled 
crowd, as though to say: 

“ I am now ready for you, gentlemen. Come on, when and 
how you please.” 

Not that I saw everything, for I was otherwise engaged, squinting 
along my pistol barrel, and marking Barney’s ugly visage at the end 
of it, but I saw enough to describe all with some show of correct¬ 
ness. 

“Go on pumping! ” I heard the smith cry, and the mono¬ 
tonous clank, clank, which had ceased, began again, for the leaking 
slaver Kittiwake had changed commanders. 

Jacob, the most retiring and inoffensive of mortals, now stood 
in Captain Scudamore’s shoes, and issued orders as if to the 
manner born, but I am free to confess that had I not stood by 
him his rule had been short. Happily the crew had no firearms, 


The Golden Kingdom 


[ S6 

but even had they been so armed, I question if they would have 
used them. I may be wrong, but I fancy there was admiration 
stamped upon not a few of their faces, while they must have 
been tickled, as I was, to see how neatly Benjy and Barney had 
been trapped. No doubt I was the chief and immediate cause of 
the discomfiture of that precious pair, no doubt it was my levelled 
pistol which held them in check, but the credit of this transforma¬ 
tion scene belonged wholly to the mighty smith. As he stood 
triumphant on the hatchway it struck me that he might very well 
have passed for that god of war concerning whom I had read, that 
hero of the hammer whom the bold vikings of old honoured and 
worshipped, that dweller in Valhalla, whose fame has been handed 
down in song and saga, and who owned the proud title of Thor 
the Thunderer. 


CHAPTER XIV 


A TRIPLE PERIL 

The position was undoubtedly peculiar. I had no desire to kill 
or maim any one ; and yet it looked as though such a course 
would be forced upon me, for it was impossible to stand thus for 
ever. Jacob’s action was prompted by a kindly heart, and a 
compassion for the suffering blacks ; yet it might very well be that 
he was dooming them to a fate scarcely less horrible than that 
which threatened them. He told me afterwards that he could 
hear them beating on the under-surface of the hatch with their 
bare fists, and crying pitifully. 

The crew were certainly disinclined to feel the weight of the 
smith’s hammer, and yet were influenced by the weight of the 
words used by the captain in his brief harangue. The slaves’ 
wish was to gain the deck, but the weight of Jacob Little 
prevented them accomplishing their object. As for Benjy and 
Barney, I believe their sole desire was to get out of range of the 
weapon I kept steadily pointed at the latter’s head. As far as 
they were concerned, it was not the time for vain speculations 
regarding the future. 

I repeat, the position was peculiar. Things, indeed, seemed 
at a deadlock, when an idea occurred to me. 

“ Get to work and make a raft, men,” I shouted; “ and then, 
if need be, these poor wretches below will have a chance, and 
their blood will not rest on your heads.” 

“ Ay, ay, sir,” sang out the boatswain, glad, I fancy, of 
anything which might break the tension; and, under his 
directions, the crew set to work with a will. 


*57 


The Golden Kingdom 


i 5 8 

The ship’s armoury was aft, and could not be reached save 
from the poop, so there was no chance of any of the men securing 
a weapon, against which Jacob’s strength and courage would have 
been of little avail. In any case, as I have said, the sailors 
seemed to bear him no ill-will, not even those whom he had 
treated a trifle roughly as we lay off the trading village on the 
banks of the Ogobo. 

Benjy’s face was a picture. At all times red, it was now purple 
with suppressed wrath and chagrin. He prided himself on his 
dignity, and was in reality a very firm commander, though some¬ 
what of a tyrant. To have his authority thus usurped by his 
passengers was gall and wormwood. Barney’s mouth worked 
convulsively, but otherwise he showed no sign of the storm 
raging in his soul—if, indeed, he boasted such a possession, 
the which I take the liberty of doubting, and not without 
reason. 

John Benbow had all this time been below, spent with toil at 
the pumps ; but he reappeared at this juncture, and stood gazing 
in astonishment at the scene. The captain heard him, and 
though he dared not so much as turn his head, shouted to him 
to fetch a pistol from the cabin and make an end of the dog; 
for so he designated my humble self. 

By way of answer I produced my other weapon. 

“ You go at your own risk, sir,” said I. “ But I know you to 
be a gentleman, who will not see murder done.” 

The words, however, were scarcely out of my mouth, when the 
carpenter came running out of the foc’sle, in great perturbation, 
and crying, “ To the boats ! to the boats ! ” 

It was clear that he had found the leak gaining on us, and from 
his manner the danger was imminent. The crew abandoned 
their task, and rushed to the falls. In an incredibly short time 
they had lowered both boats, bundled into them, and pushed off, 
rowing vigorously to get clear of the doomed ship, and regardless 
of the fact that their small craft were crowded to excess. The gig 
hung astern, and I called out to Benbow, asking him to get her in 
the water, which he promptly did, loosing one rope after the other 
till she settled fairly on an even keel. Then I ordered Benjy and 


A Triple Peril 159 

Barney into her; and they obeyed me like lambs, lowering 
themselves hand over hand, while I leant over the side, and kept 
a pistol ready for each of them. They more than made up for 
their willing compliance by their language, which, I am free to 
confess, was the most remarkable I had ever heard. 

It was then I observed how low in the water the Kittiwake was 
lying. She seemed to be settling fast to her grave. 

“Now, Master Benbow,” said I, “’tis your turn.” But even 
as he was about to swing himself over the taffrail there came a 
hail from away forward, a shout which caused my heart to leap, 
and was wellnigh the cause of my undoing. Forgetting the 
necessity for watchfulness in sheer amazement, I looked behind 
me. Crack ! A bullet grazed my neck; for Barney was not the 
villain to miss such an opportunity. Nor was the captain. 
Benjy whipped out a knife and severed both ropes before I 
recovered myself sufficiently to pay due attention to the pair of 
rogues. The shot angered me; and taking aim at Dickenson, 
I fired, even as he was levelling a second pistol at my head. His 
arm dropped to his side; but already the boat was some distance 
from the ship, which had a little way on her. Scudamore let fly 
at me; but both Benbow and I took refuge behind the bulwark, 
and came to no harm. I might have returned the compliment, 
but the idea of doing so never entered my head, for I knew the 
voice which had uttered the shout, and in my brief glance forward 
I had seen a man climbing out of the fore-hatch, a man with a 
tousled mass of hair, who was waving his arms, and appeared to 
be in a prodigious hurry, and him I also knew. 

It was no other than Corkran the Coxswain. 

My ears had not deceived me, my eyes had not played me 
false. It was his singing I had heard; his was the head I had 
seen outlined against the moon. The old rip had not deserted 
us; no slip-the-ship was he, though she had lacked an under¬ 
boatswain. All these days he had lain hid, intent on some deep 
game of his own; but now it would appear that, like some rat, 
he had been forced into the light of day, and, I feared, too late 
—both for us and for himself. Apparently he did not share my 
forebodings. 


i6o 


The Golden Kingdom 

“ Here with you, Doctor Harry ! ” he yelled, and flung himself 
upon the handle of one of the pumps. 

“ Come with me, Benbow,” I cried to the mate, who was dumb 
and open-mouthed with astonishment at this apparition. “There 
must yet be a chance.” And together we ran forward, while 
Jacob, quitting the hatch, joined us. 

It was no time for words; but I noticed that Corkran was 
dripping wet from his wig to his shoes. From the latter the water 
squelched, as he worked desperately. The whole four of us 
laboured with a tremendous vigour, and the streams gushed freely 
to the scuppers. Once or twice the vessel rolled sluggishly, now 
and again she lurched in a drunken fashion, and there was some¬ 
thing in her movements that would have caused us to redouble 
our efforts, had that been possible. As it was, we were not 
conscious of fatigue. We were fighting against time, struggling 
for our lives; and soon the sweat broke out upon us, and we 
were pumping like clockwork rather than men, our arms rising 
and falling apparently of their own accord, though our teeth 
were set and our eyes strained with the intensity of our 
endeavours. 

Clank ! clank ! The minutes sped, each moment a lifetime of 
anxiety, each movement perchance our last. 

“Go on!” gasped Corkran to Jacob Little. “I am spent,” 
and threw himself down upon the planking. 

“What useis’t?” Benbow managed to articulate, as he paused 
a second to straighten his weary back. 

“ Go on ! ” gasped Corkran again. “ The leak is plugged.” 
And having so said, he lay upon his back, and drew long, sobbing 
breaths of exhaustion. 

“Plugged ! ” The word rang in my head, and brought me a 
gleam of hope. It heartened all three of us, and we bent to our 
painful toiling with renewed vigour. 

I cannot tell how long we carried on; but we were arrested by 
a great clattering on the deck, and an exclamation from Corkran. 
A glance revealed the fact that a fresh peril awaited us. The 
blacks, who for a time had ceased their useless efforts to free 
themselves, had again tried to force up the main hatch, being no 


1 61 


A Triple Peril 

doubt once more alarmed at the noise of the pumps. Now they 
had succeeded. They had thrust back the heavy cover, and 
were swarming up the stair-ladder; and this time they were 
armed. Their own manacles, billets of wood, and plank-ends 
formed their weapons. Nor was this all. Some of them had 
worked their way forward, and came streaming out of the fore¬ 
hatch—a savage, terrified, famished crowd. 

With shouts and yells, they rushed at us; but getting our 
backs set against the bulwarks, we prepared to meet them. It 
was no time to feel pity for the hapless wretches; there was not 
a moment to parley with them. They were insane with fear, 
athirst for blood, unreasoning, and wholly horrible. Their eyes 
rolled in frenzy, and till then I never knew how much white 
there is in the eye of a negro ; their knuckles were bleeding, their 
big mouths open, and their strong, clean teeth gleaming in contrast 
to the deep black of their skins, the dusky hue of their lips, and 
the red of their tongues. Again, I say, they were horrible, like 
some nightmare, some hideous hallucination of a disordered brain. 

Corkran was the first to take toll of them. Though he was wet, 
the primings of his pistols were dry, and he fired twice in rapid 
succession. Three men fell, for the range was close and they were 
tightly packed. I pitched up the barker I had not discharged, but 
it merely flashed in the pan. Benbow was unarmed, but there 
remained Jacob Little. He was loth to join battle with those 
whom he had striven to aid, but there was no help for it. His 
heavy hammer was again in his hands, and with something like a 
groan he sprang forward in our defence. 

I have seen fights, I have witnessed strange and desperate 
struggles, but rarely anything resembling the contest which ensued. 
A tall, raw-boned black sprang at the smith, but the latter swung 
his weapon sideways, and then it crashed full upon the negro’s 
skull. The man was dead in an instant, the whole lateral aspect 
of his cranium being driven in as a door gives before the stroke of 
a battering ram. Again the hammer head rose, this time aloft, 
and it fell with a sickening thud on a rounded skull cap. The 
bones of the negro’s vault are thick and strong, but nothing human 
could withstand so fearful an impact. The top of the man’s crown 


ii 


i6z 


The Golden Kingdom 

cracked and sank inwards as an eggshell does when tapped with a 
spoon, and two jets of crimson spurted from his wide nostrils. 
Then Jacob saw red, he went fighting mad, and plunged forward, 
raining blows this way and that, on woolly hair, on lean shoulders, 
on arms and necks and chests and backs. The slaves struck at 
him, they caught at his legs, they sprang hither and thither, but 
nothing could stop the mighty smith. He hurled them out of his 
way, he trampled them under foot, he smashed and splintered 
them, and drove them before him, till with a wail of woe they fled, 
tumbling headlong below, or running wildly forward, screaming 
and throwing up their arms. We were saved by the strength of a 
strong man, but when none faced him Jacob came to himself, and 
as he saw the deck and what lay on it, he dropped his fearsome 
hammer, covered his eyes with his hands, and wept in misery at 
the slaughter he had wrought. 

“ Stap me ! ” said Corkran, “ but this is the queerest thing of all,” 
and having so said he fell apumping again, leaving us to batten 
down the main hatch, and secure the egress forward. To tell the 
truth, I scarce think there was any necessity for such precautions, 
the foe being utterly cowed; but I soon found there was need of 
others. I had no opportunity to rally Jacob, or express sympathy 
with him, I could not look after the wounded slaves, I did not 
even join Corkran and Benbow at the pumps, for as I glanced sea¬ 
wards I saw the three boats approaching the ship, the sun glancing 
and gleaming on the spots where the oars dipped, and on the 
water-drops, feathering from the blades. Several men had been 
transferred to the gig which was leading by a couple of lengths, 
and it was evident that Captain Benjy was intent on boarding, 
and, if possible, retaking his own vessel. 

“ They are coming ! ” I cried out to the coxswain. 

“The black devils!” he replied, relinquishing his hold on the 
handle and looking anxiously about him. 

“ No, no,” I shouted, being by this time excited, “ the Kitti- 
wake's crew, with Benjy and Barney at their head.” 

“ Ho, ho ! ” he answered, “ split me if this is not a rare jest 1” 

To tell the truth, I did not agree with him. The sailors alone 
would not have greatly troubled me, but the pair in the gig were 


A Triple Peril 163 

customers of another sort. They had lain on their oars, awaiting 
the last dip and bow of the Kittiwake , but when this did not occur, 
and there was no sign of the ship settling deeper, they grew 
suspicious. It may be the brief combat with the blacks delayed 
their approach, and if so it counted in our favour, for we were now 
able to turn our attention to them, the which we straightway pro¬ 
ceeded to do under Corkran’s guidance. That astonishing man 
explained his statement in a few words. 

“ Pulling a long mug, Doctor Harry ? ” said he. “ Egad ! but 
you have not the heart of a periwinkle, and I see your prognosis 
of this case is scarce worth a finger-snap. Man, we’ve got rid of 
enough of good green sea to let her float while it’s calm, and, 
unless my old eyes have failed me with living in the dark, there’s 
a six-pounder yonder on the poop.” 

I understood him immediately, but I had no wish to fire 
upon the crew. It chilled me to the marrow to think of men 
struggling in the water, infested by such monsters as still hovered 
around us, though the noise of lowering the boats had scared them 
to some distance. I said as much to the coxswain, for so I must 
continue to call him. He looked me up and down with his evil 
grin, and from me he looked to Jacob. 

“ Stap my vitals ! ” said he, “ if I have not for messmates a pair 
of milksoppers ! You will be the death of me, Doctor Harry, if of 
none else. Well, well, only leave me alone, and I’ll play the 
game for you.—Look you, my lad,” he said to Benbow, “ you seem 
an honest fellow, and there’s my flipper on’t; will you take me for 
your skipper and step straight into Barney Dickenson’s shoes?” 

The mate hesitated. 

“ His share o’ the cargo, and a trifle over for the extra work,” 
added his seducer. 

“ It’s a bargain,” answered John Benbow, and spat into the 
horny palm of each hand. 

“ Then we’ll lay aft, my lad, and train that pop-gun on friend 
Benjy’s nose.” 

“ There’s powder stored forrard of the main cabin, and board¬ 
ing pikes ranged round its bulkheads,” said Benbow. 

“ Ay, ay, and I reckon I see a stack of round shot yonder, very 


The Golden Kingdom 


164 

convenient it will prove; but away with you and up with a bucket, 
we must get her charged at once.” 

Honest John trundled off to do Corkran’s bidding, and that worthy 
himself hurried to the poop, but not without a parting shot at Jacob. 

“When you’ve done pumping yourself dry,” said he, “you had 
best join the doctor here at another spell on the ship.” 

He winked wickedly at me, and was gone, cramming a couple of 
pistol bullets into his mouth, ready for spitting into the barrels of 
his barkers, and no wit affected by the shambles at his feet. 

The smith, a picture of dejection and misery, looked up and 
blinked after his retreating figure. 

“Curse him!” said Jacob Little, the only time I ever heard 
him swear. 

“ Come, come, friend ! ” I exclaimed, “ there is truth in what 
he says, and ’tis no use being over squeamish in such a world; do 
you fall to again, and I will help you as soon as I have looked to 
these poor fellows.” , 

There were but two I could aid, and I did my best for them 
under the circumstances, and brought them water from a butt, which 
was lashed to the caboose. They stared at me in sullen wonder, 
but each grunted with satisfaction as he drained the pannikin. 

Meanwhile Corkran and Benbow were preparing to receive our 
visitors. The former had possessed himself of Barney’s trumpet, 
and, once the gun was loaded and trained, he sprang into the 
main shrouds, and bellowed out: 

“ Boats ahoy ! What boats are these ? ” 

In a moment every oar ceased to splash, and then I saw Benjy 
spring up in the stern sheets of the gig, and his shrill voice came 
floating over the water’s stretch between us and him. 

“ Blood and bones !” he yelled, “ but ’tis the Virginian ! ” 

“ Doctor Harry, Doctor Harry ! ” shouted Corkran, “ he takes 
me for a virgin ! What think ye of that ? ” 

The man was irrepressible, Benjy and company had met their 
match, but more was to follow. 

“ Ahoy ! ” he cried again. “ But that sounds like old Poll Scuda¬ 
more’s squeaky whistle. How is it with you, Benjy, my love, and 
when did you take to cruising in a gig ? ” 


A Triple Peril 165 

I could hear the boat’s crew guffaw, and the captain cursing. 

“ Ahoy ! ” bellowed Corkran for the third time. “Has brother 
Barney shipped with you, and if so, how’s his jaw tackle ? ” 

“ Give way ! ” roared that worthy, and the gig shot forward. 

“ Fire ! ” 

Benbow clapped a lighted fuse to the touch-hole, and the gun 
sprang back from the port. Never was a shot more effective. 
The loud report yet lingered in the air, the smoke clouds yet hung 
about the bulwarks, when the crew of the gig were being dragged 
into the other boats. The ball had struck her full, shivering her 
timbers and knocking her to splinters. One man at least was 
hurt, but little did Corkran care. He and Benbow were hard at 
work, sponging and reloading. They ran out the cannon again, 
but it seemed that the crews of the two boats remaining had not 
much stomach for the job. I did not marvel greatly when I saw 
an upright fin shearing slowly through the water, between them and 
the ship. -Still, a little reflection would convince them that their 
wiser policy would be to make a dash and seize the JCittiwake, for 
a boat voyage in such latitudes was like to be a thing of horror. 
They appeared to be discussing matters, and all the time the vessel 
slowly drew away from them, there being sufficient wind puffs to 
stir her canvas, though without guidance she made no certain track. 

Presently they started rowing again in a great hurry, and I 
perceived a band of ruffled blue on the sea surface beyond them. 
A breeze was fetching up from the north-west, and would afford 
us a means of escape. Already Corkran was holding up a wetted 
forefinger, and leaving Benbow at the gun, he ran to the tiller. The 
catspaws gained upon the boats, but the boats gained upon the slaver. 

“ Pump ! ” shouted Corkran, “ she’s too sluggish yet to stand a 
jabble,” and Jacob and I once more fell to work with blistered 
hands and anxious hearts. I had no further time to note what 
happened. I felt the breeze strike the ship, and noted a gurgle 
and lapping at her forefoot. Again I heard the roar of ordnance 
and a shout from our pursuers. The sails cracked heavily against 
the masts, and there came a creaking and groaning from aloft 
as the tackle stretched and the yards swung to the wind. 

The sound of shots fired from the boats reached me, and 


166 


The Golden Kingdom 

Corkran’s voice pouring out a flood of what I took to be blasphemy 
or mockery. The slaves, hearing the miserable clanking, set up 
their still more miserable howling, and to this babel of noises the 
deeply sunk ship slipped through the sea. My one wish was that 
the pumps might suck dry, that there might come an end to this 
throaty sobbing of the plungers, and the gurgle and the gush and 
the splash; but it looked as though we were striving to empty the 
whole Atlantic, that our pumps were drinking as Thor drank 
when he quaffed at the wine horn of the mocking giants. Our 
Thor, however, w%s none too easily conquered, and long after I 
had fallen exhausted, face downwards, he was heaving with might 
and main, tireless and magnificent in his endurance. 

My brain kept no record of time; I was in an agony for breath, 
and praying that my shoulders and arms might be eased of pain. 
Still I knew that the Kittiwake was forging ahead, and as I began 
to recover and my heart ceased to throb like a pump piston, I 
suddenly heard that which told me we were saved. It was 
Corkran singing, rolling out a verse of that weird sea song of 
his, with which he had introduced himself to me long ages ago, 
as it seemed : 

Sing hey ! for the days in the open boat, 

For the sun’s fierce glare and the thirsty throat. 

For the oars’ long creak, and the broken rest, 

And the fin of the shark on his ceaseless quest. 

Ho, ho, ho ! 

Let the jolly-boats go, 

Dead men above, and sharks below. 

I got upon my knees, and looked astern. There he was, 
flourishing a hand in token of farewell, and with his head thrown 
back, singing lustily this song of derision, ay, and of prophecy. I 
staggered to my feet and gained the side. We were humming 
along merrily, and far behind us were two black specks tossing 
upon a lively sea, while borne on the strengthening wind there 
floated to my ears an outcry of rage and dismay. 

“ God help them ! 99 I said to myself, yet did not forget how He 
had helped us in His own good time, and for His own good 
purposes. 


CHAPTER XV 


AT LOGGERHEADS 

Like an automaton Jacob bent and straightened at his task, but I 
was past helping him, and tottered aft with a request for our new 
commander. The poop stairs well-nigh foiled me, so weak did I 
feel, but I climbed them panting, and reached the stern. 

“ Corkran ! ” said L 

“ Captain Corkran, and it please you,” said he, with a sudden 
assumption of dignity. 

“ I do but save my breath,” I answered, leaning heavily against 
the side; “ but are we going to leave these men to their fate ? ” 

His face was a picture. 

“ By old Daddy Neptune ! ” said he, “what would you be at 
next ? Are we to offer them a passage at so much a head, and 
give up our cabins, with much bowing and scraping, to Poll 
Scudamore and long-tongued Barney ? ” 

I shook my head. 

“The crew,” I answered, “are not bad fellows, and think of 
what awaits them ! ” 

“ Think ? ” quoth he fiercely. “ Do you imagine that I do not 
know ? Have I not had a tongue like leather, and eyes like hard 
glass balls with red streaks painted on them, and a throat afire, 
and a belly like a bottomless pit ? Stap me ! ” said he, “ but I 
have been five-and-twenty days afloat in a leaking dinghey.” 

“Then there is all the more reason why you should be 
merciful.” 

“ You are a fool, Doctor Harry—a big man with a woman’s 

167 


168 


The Golden Kingdom 

heart; but I will humour you. How, think you, could I, with 
such a crew, wear ship and run down to them, or how even lie 
head to wind with the hold awash and let them come aboard ? 
No doubt you would have me rig the side ladder, and turn out 
a black guard of honour. Yonder swine are not fit to handle a 
fine craft; but, for your satisfaction, cast your eyes to the norrard 
there.” 

I looked, scanning the whole horizon, but saw nothing. 

“ Eyes like a bat, my lad ; so much for hunching over books o’ 
nights. What’s the mate’s name ? ” 

“John Benbow.” 

“ Ho, there, Benbow ! Fetch up the glass, like a good lad, 
and we’ll let Doctor Harry here squint through it to ease his 
pains. He has a sneaking fondness for B. and B., and would 
take them to his bosom, though they are as damp as floating 
sea-wrack.” 

Honest John obeyed with alacrity, grinning the while ; and it 
was then I made out the topsails of a ship rising above the 
ocean’s rim. 

“She’ll sight ’em,” said Corkran, “and no doubt feed ’em and 
coddle ’em, and wake one fine morning to find Benjy squeaking 
orders on the poop. He’s no fool, is Poll Scudamore ; but I 
would that first ball had taken the head from off his shoulders. 
Curse him ! ” he added savagely. “ I owe him a long score, and 
’tis but paid in part.” 

He was in a very ill humour, and I forbore from questioning 
him on the subject. 

“ I opine,” said he, “ you had not fathomed these villains’ 
intentions regarding you and yonder great sniffling lump, else you 
would not be so eager to embrace them.” 

His words angered me. 

“ Look you, my man,” I answered, “ you mistake an ordinary 
compassion for weakness. Once and for all, Jacob Little is my 
friend ; and you will address him—yes, and myself also—with 
fitting courtesy ! ” 

“ Ho, ho! ” said he. “ Split me ! but I like you, Doctor 
Harry; even as I did when you laughed out amongst the snow. 


At Loggerheads 169 

I love a man with a backbone, even though he has a heart like a 
squab. Never fear, my hearty; we are four in the same boat, 
and must pull the same stroke, and there’s my flipper on’t.” 

It was impossible to cherish anger against such a being, and 
our fingers met in amity. 

“ It was not Benjy and Barney for whom I pleaded,” I made 
haste to explain. 

“ I should reckon not. Why, doctor, they were for carrying 
you and Master Jacob Little (who, I remember, is your friend, 
and is the best hand at the pumps I have ever seen)—I say, they 
were for shipping you to the Western Indies, and there selling 
you to the planters. That was their little game, and it’s well for 
both of you that a certain Corkran was stowed away in the 
forehold.” 

I confess I was not much surprised at this revelation. 

“ So we were never bound for Bantam ? ” said I. 

“ Bantam ! No, no, my lad, you were bound to be bondsmen 
had I not drilled a couple of planks like a wood-worm.” 

“ You ! ” I cried. “ Then we did not spring a leak in the 
gale ? ” 

He swore roundly, and laughed till his beard waggled. 

“ The tale will keep,” he said ; “ and if we are to have the heels 
of yonder barque we must get more sail spread. Go now with the 
mate, and he’ll teach you something of sea lore; but remember 
this, in all things pertaining to navigation I, and I alone, am 
master here.” 

“ That I will not dispute,” I replied; and never thought how 
soon I was to eat my own words. 

It was a mere chance as to whether the Kittiwake's crew would 
be picked up or no by the ship which was growing big on the 
horizon, but her presence salved my raw conscience, and I had 
enough to occupy me in carrying out Benbow’s directions. As 
for Jacob, he toiled unceasingly till the pump sucked dry, and the 
slaver was freed, and then he pitched the dead blacks overboard, 
and tended those he had hurt and the three who had been shot, 
with the care of a woman. 

All the time I worked I was thinking of Corkran and his 


The Golden Kingdom 


170 

remarkable revelation. His story was not incredible, but it 
argued a fund of endurance and resource, an ingenuity and 
tenacity of purpose which were indeed remarkable. I was all 
impatience to hear his tale, but it was some time before my 
curiosity was gratified, for we were yet in a parlous condition. 
Four men, and two of them landlubbers, were a ridiculously tiny 
crew for a craft like the Kittiwake , and when, in addition, it is 
remembered that we were burdened with a set of mutinous slaves, 
I trow none would have elected to change places with us. 

As, however, some may anxiously await Corkran’s explanations, 
I will here set them down much as he related them to me after 
we had passed through further adventurings, and before the 
dreaded sea-scourge settled upon us in all its loathsomeness. 

“ Ay, ay,” said the old rip, to whom I had been recounting 
Captain Benjy’s surmises anent the reason for his non-appearance, 
“ Poll Scudamore thought rightly, for it would have meant a 
noose or a knife for me had I shipped openly with him and 
Barney. I reckon, howbeit, that I am too wary a bird to poke 
my beak into a trap, and though at first I had no suspicions, 
thinking this old girl was truly bound for Bantam, I had no 
sooner clapped eyes on her than doubts began to crowd into my 
mind. She has not the lines of an East Indiaman, and what is 
more, I recognised her, though she had changed her name. In 
my time—for I have footed her planks before—she was called the 
Bird d Paradise , though she was more of a floating hell than a 
heaven. 

“Well, my lad, I took the water the very night before you 
embarked, and crawled in through the hawse hole, a trick I have 
oft times played. I scuttled below unseen, and as soon as I smelt 
her timbers ’tween decks, I guessed her mission. Once a slaver 
always a slaver, as far as scent goes. Now, as I have said, I had, 
and still have, a long reckoning with the two ugly scamps we sent 
afloat. I might have knifed them on the quiet, but that’s a dirty 
game, and though I have slain men—ay, a many of them—it has 
been as fairly as was possible. No, no, my cock, Corkran is no 
assassin. Therefore I devised the plan of lying hid in the 
store-room forrard. I had plenty of provender, and the air 


At Loggerheads 171 

was none so foul, while I could ramble in the dark through 
the lower hold, and passed the time in guessing what was in 
the bales and casks, now and then ripping one open to see if 
I were right. I had water from the storage casks, and though 
I came near being caught once or twice I ever saved my skin, 
knowing the run of the ship, and having a snug corner where I 
foregathered, as the Scotch say, with a dozen and more rats, 
and fed and fondled them. Split me! but a rat has more 
sense than many a Christian. Anyhow, he knows when ’tis time 
to clear, and my prick-whiskers trusted me to make a good job 
of my little affair. You and Jacob—confound the pair of you ! 
—have spoilt it; but my idea was to let the slaves be shipped, 
and then at a convenient time, if possible after a gale, to start my 
boring. I made my plugs and waited. You know what hap¬ 
pened, and you have some idea of the stench and heat. I opine 
I have as tough a stomach as any man, but, stap my vitals! 
I was fain to creep on deck o’ nights whatever the risk. I grew 
bold, though I confess I played the fool that time you saw me. 
The beauty of the scene had gripped my soul, and I was busy 
with a poem on’t in my head. Ecod ! I still recall a verse or 
twain.” 

Thereupon this remarkable man spouted forth a metrical eulogy 
on tropic moonlight, the which I have in great measure forgotten, 
and which has no bearing on this tale. It was, I remember, very 
musical, though, like all Corkran’s songs, there was something of 
the horrible and weird in it, a glinting of yellow rays on dead 
faces in a silent ship, and more to the same effect. 

“ Enough,” said he, when he had finished. “ The gale happened 
and I made play with the augur, but I tell you I was scared for 
once. The green sea came welling in faster than I had thought 
possible, and when it was time to plug these <same holes I 
thought I was cornered, hoist on mine own petard, Doctor Harry, 
floated up on my own in-lettings which were like to choke me. 
Yes, I had to swim down there in the darkness, swim, and dive, 
and grope and grip the ship’s ribs under water. Body o’ me ! 
never have I been in such a fix. That is why I was dripping wet, 
my cock, and faith ! you all came precious near to being in a 


The Golden Kingdom 


172 

similar plight, for I could not strike the last hole and was in 
torture. Ay, ay, death’s an easy thing in the open, or in the heat 
of a fight, but in a stinking hold, in the blackness of a ship’s 
bowels, to drown like a rat, and see nothing as you drown, no, 
no, that is never the game for old Nick, never again ! ” 

He shuddered at the recollection, and tossed off a finger’s 
length of rum punch which he had brewed, for despite my warn¬ 
ings he drank freely as long as he was master of the Kittiwake. 

Not master of a slaver, for all that. I have hinted that there 
had been a dispute between us, and it befell in this manner. 

To put a period to a yarn which threatens to become wearisome, 
let me say that we ran the strange sail out of sight, altered our 
course in the night, and in the morning had the wide ocean tc 
ourselves. Then, as was very necessary, we held a council which, 
as was perhaps very unwise and unnatural under such conditions, 
became a council of war. It was a fine day with a six-knot 
breeze, before which we ran easily due south, and we conversed 
together on the poop, Benbow at the tiller, and Corkran keeping 
a watchful eye on sky and sails. By this time the smith had 
ventured below, and had fed and watered the blacks, who at first 
had been paralysed with fear when he came amongst them, dread¬ 
ing lest he should deal with them as he had done when we stood 
at bay. 

He and I had talked together, and decided on our course of 
action; but, as we soon found, Captain Nicholas had not been 
idle. He also had a plan. What is more, he had liquor in him. 
His long abstinence had tried him sorely, and he had taken 
kindly to the bottle. Consequently, his easy familiarity was 
gone ; he was the fine gentleman, much to Benbow’s astonish¬ 
ment, who did not know him as I did. 

“ Gentlemen, said he, “ I need not long detain you. We have 
merely to settle some matters, such as the keeping of the several 
watches, who is to act as cook, the tending to the wants of the 
black ivory below, and the other duties of the ship’s company. 
John Benbow, being a seaman to trade, will act as mate ; Doctor 
Mortimer I appoint surgeon and boatswain—a double office for a 
man of parts,” he bowed to me ; “ while Master Jacob Little will 


At Loggerheads 173 

constitute our crew, and a more able-bodied tarry-breeks I have 
never seen.” 

Then he assigned us our various tasks, taking a very liberal 
share of work to himself, so much so that I wondered when he 
would find time to sleep. 

He finished his dispositions with a prodigious yawn. 

“That is all, my merry men,” said he, “save that as we have 
had a trying bout, and as I am very well pleased with you, the 
bosun will pipe all hands to grog. A thimbleful will put heart 
in us, and God knows we have need of it or ever we come to 
an anchorage.” 

“ Where, captain ? ” said I. 

“Well,” he replied, “you have a right to know, so learn, 
all three, that I will shape a course for Barbadoes. There we 
can get rid of the slaves at fair prices, re-victual, pick up a few 
hands, and then--hey for the Cape ! ” 

He slapped his thigh, and had to bend his elbow to do so, his 
arm was of such a length. 

There was a dead silence when he had finished, save for the usual 
ship-board sounds, the crisp swishing alongside, the sea music 
in the shrouds, the rush of the breeze striking the bellying sails. 

He glanced at us sharply, and the scar on his face changed in 
colour, a trick it had when he was moved. 

“ Will that serve you ? ” he asked harshly. 

“No,” I answered, “it will not.” 

“ Zounds, sir ! ” he cried. “ And why not—why not ? Body 
o’ me, and am I to have rank mutiny already ? Did you not say 
that there was to be no disputing with me on matters of 
navigation ? ” 

I bowed, acting the part of the surgeon, and not that of the 
boatswain. 

“ ’Tis true enough,” said I, “ and it pains me to break my 
word, but this thing was unforeseen.” 

He placed his hands on his hips and faced us squarely, with a 
sour look on his peculiar visage. 

“ Stap me! ” said he, “ if I am not in very truth in Poll 
Scudamore’s shoes, which would thus early be at their pinching ; 


174 The Golden Kingdom 

but go on, bosun, where in thunder would you take the old Bird 
o' Paradise ? ” 

“ Captain Corkran, we have every faith in your seamanship; 
we owe you much; we would willingly follow your lead; but, 
sir, we have seen enough of this cruelty and misery. Master 
Little and I are for putting back and setting these wretched 
beings ashore in their own country. Thereafter let us make for 
the Cape by all means.” 

The eyes of Captain Nicholas well-nigh leaped from out his 
head in pure amazement. 

“ Do I hear aright,” he asked, “ or am I deaf as a mole from 
living in the dark ? Did ever any one listen to such insane folly ? 
Here be three hundred guineas waiting to be scooped, and we 
are to pass them by; for what?—for what? For the maddest 
whim that ever tickled a landsman’s sodden brains. Split me to 
splinters if ever I dreamed of such pedantry ! You would give up 
a fortune for what—for what ? For the sake of running back to 
a God-forsaken, stinking, fever-stricken belt of coast, and letting 
loose a cargo of beastly blacks, to be nabbed by some swine of 
a Portuguese, or to rouse every frizzled poll in the bush with the 
hope of loot. And after that you say ‘ Hey for the Cape ! ’ By 
Daddy Neptune, will you find the wind, will you bargain with the 
sea-currents? Man! man! John Benbow there could tell you 
what the doldrums mean. Would you have the sea slime coat 
us? Would you have every barnacle in the tropics sucking at 
our bottom ? Do you wish to rot in a blue haze, and float on a 

pond of oil ? Doctor Harry, you are a fool. All the way from 

the Western Isles we carry the trades with us ; we run on a 

bowline; we foot the circle from Rio; we will have shipped a 

fresh crew; there will be green meat and juicy fruits to keep our 
blood from turning sour; we will jingle the yellow boys in our 
pouches, and again you will be passengers, and feed on the fat 
of the land. The first run, I grant you, will be longer, but I at 
least am not a chicken at heart or a chicken at sea, and stap my 
vitals if I grant you a jot or tittle ! No, no, bosun, pipe to grog, 
and then away forrard with you, and whistle for the wind to hold 
and blow us to Barbadoes.” 


At Loggerheads 175 

I listened to this tremendous harangue unmoved. I knew my 
man, and I knew he lied, or thought I knew. He was throwing 
dust in our eyes; doing his best, and a very fair best at that, to 
scare us. The gleam of gold was before his eyes, the tinkling 
of coin in his ears; and perhaps more than all he was merely set 
in his own way, and having made up his mind, was fiercely 
averse to altering it. 

“ Your arguments do you credit, sir,” said I, “ but, with all due 
deference to your opinion, we are not fools. One may fall in 
with calm latitudes voyaging half over the world just as much as 
beating down the African coast. Perchance you do not know 
how much was hove overboard and taken in the boats. I tell 
you we run the risk of starvation, as well as of the scurvy. As 
for time, ’tis much of a muchness whichever way you take it, 
though from what I know of the chart it will be somewhat in 
favour of our plan, everything considered. We stand more 
chance of falling in with ships on the direct run, and in any case 
are but a few days’ sail from land if we go about. Our desire, 
and yours also, I take it, is to reach the Cape with all speed. 
We are not mariners, and are sick of the sea, and, as I said before, 
we are sick also of that shambles below deck. Further, the 
slaves constitute a danger to four wearied men, and we get rid 
of them speedily by turning back. As for gold, you once told 
me it weighed not a scruple with you; why, then, this eagerness 
to make a profit of human lives ? ” 

Thus I spoke, and even at greater length; and, though I say 
it, I had him on the hip in several particulars. 

’Tis needless to say we wrangled. Benbow chopped about 
from one side to the other like an unmanageable barque, and 
words ran high, but it was Jacob who settled matters. 

“This is all nonsense,” he remarked quietly; “we are going 
back to Africa, so let us waste no more time,” and somehow, 
after we had all three stared hard at him, there seemed to be 
nothing more to say. 

To my surprise Corkran gave way, but I fancy he saw some 
truth in my remarks, though he was not willing to own himself in 
the wrong. There can be no doubt that the man had a soul too 


176 The Golden Kingdom 

great for his body, as he had once before exclaimed. He was a 
cunning dog, however, and had enough real greatness to show no 
sign of chagrin, and even to make me feel uncomfortable the 
while he conformed to our ideas. 

“ I had judged you by other men,” said he, with a sneer, 
“ who take what the gods send, and ask no questions. I had 
forgot that I was dealing with gentlemen of the very highest 
order, and passengers who have paid for their rights. By all 
means let it be as you will. Doctor Harry, you once did me a 
good turn, and I have not forgotten it; no, not I, so we will foot 
it to the east, and may God have mercy on our souls 1 ” 

His conclusion was in keeping with his behaviour. It put the 
fear of death upon Benbow, and cast a gloom upon us all, so that 
it was a very sullen company of four who worked the Rittiwcike 
back to land. Corkran sneered at us the whole time, quietly but 
effectively ; honest John was depressed and mournful with a 
presentiment of evil; and I was irritated and had doubts as to 
the wisdom of our conduct. Jacob alone was unconcerned. 
He did the work of the crew; had the slaves up on deck in 
batches, where they squatted in the sun and drank in health and 
strength; he set them to clean out their filthy den, and obtained 
an influence over them in a couple of days, though he knew not 
a word of their lingo. It is my belief that he was in part doing 
penance for the fit of rage and lust of blood which had come 
upon him. His was a strange character which I never fathomed. 
There was much of the child in him—much that was primitive 
and simple. He was pious in his own fashion, stupid, if you 
will, and yet no fool; a queer mixture which it is as hard to 
describe as it was difficult to understand. This world would be 
a poor place did it harbour no eccentrics, and certainly I found 
it sufficiently exciting when I had to deal at one and the same 
time with two such originals as Jacob the farrier, and Corkran 
the Coxswain. 


CHAPTER XVI 
THE GEE AT APES 

Land ho ! It was from Benbow that the hearty hail rang out at 
sunrise, and we gathered in the bows a set of unshaven, wearied 
men, to whose hearts came a glow at the thought of terra firma. 

There were others on the deck—three stalwart blacks, who, 
conquered by Jacob’s kindness, had joined the ship’s company, 
and, like children, had forgotten their troubles and revelled in 
the novelty of their work. It was a heartsome sight to see their 
faces wrinkle, and their mouths expand with merry laughter—to 
watch their curious antics and mimicry of one another. There is 
something taking in the African ere the white man ruins him by 
his example, his cruelty, or his drink. These were intelligent 
fellows who readily understood their duties, and were faithful to 
their salt, as the Eastern fable says. 

The winds had been light and fickle, and the days had 
lengthened out inordinately ; but past troubles were forgotten, 
and we felt drawn towards one another even as we drew near to 
the shadowy, broken line, which lay low on the ocean’s rim. 
The hours passed, and once again we gazed at yellow sand- 
reaches, and a forest fringe from whose leafy roof a few bluish 
vapours slowly wavered towards the sun and melted at his touch. 
The lazy rollers broke in silver on the shore, and there was never 
a sig’"' of life, not even sea-birds hunting for their prey. Neither 
was there a river mouth nor any sign of bar. 

Corkran scanned the coast with a hand above his eyes, and 
shook his head. 


177 


12 


The Golden Kingdom 


178 

“ I know not the place,” said he, “ only that we are well to 
the south of the Ogobo River.” 

“ It may be,” I hazarded, “ that one of our slaves knows.” 

“ Very like,” assented Benbow, “ I will go and see.” 

The mate had a smattering of several of the littoral dialects, 
and could make himself understood. He went aft to where our 
sable gentry were jabbering together, and pointed to the shore. 

I looked at the group and noticed, as I had not done before, 
how very prominent a part his joints play in the configuration of 
the negro. Knees, ankles, elbows, knuckles : they all caught the 
eye, the bone ends being prominent; but I may not dwell upon 
a consideration appertaining solely to mine own profession. 

Honest John presently returned, stolid of aspect, and yet with 
news which, had I known nothing, would yet have excited me. 

“ One of them, whom we call Corrobee,” he announced, “ says 
this is the region of the great apes. The others know nothing 
of it.” 

The region of the great apes ! Where had I heard the like 
before, where had I read of such a place ? I cudgelled my brains, 
and presently the recollection came home to me. Amongst my 
store of books, which I fervently hoped that the vicar had in his 
safe keeping, was one I had unearthed in the ancient town of 
Antwerp, a very strange volume bearing the high-sounding title 
of “The Periplus of the Erythrean Sea.” It was the edition of 
Stuckius of Zurich, of the year 1577, and full of curious legends 
regarding ancient voyages, though more especially did it deal with 
the adventurings of the Arabians from Myos Hormes in the Red Sea 
to Rhapta, a spot in the latitude of Madagascar. Thus it was 
concerned with the eastern coast of the unknown continent, but 
there was, I remembered, one passage which referred to the 
wondrous travels of Hanno the Carthaginian. At once I was 
on the right track; the thought of the Periplus carried me to the 
books of Pliny, and my memory cleared. That historian, who 
was a very great liar as well, recounted how the men of Carthage 
made the land at a spot far south on the mainland, after they had 
traversed the narrow waters at the Pillars of Hercules, and sailed 
many days and nights. At this place, where were dense forests 


The Great Apes 179 

and wooded bogs, they had encountered huge, hairy men and 
women, whom they had striven to take alive. In this they had 
failed, each of these monsters having the strength of ten men ; but 
they had slain three, finding, indeed, they were immense apes of 
an extraordinary likeness to human beings, apes which fed on 
leaves and berries, and were much feared by the barbarians. 
They had skinned the carcases of the three, and brought back 
the hides as an offering to the shrines of their gods. 

I confess I had looked upon all this as an idle tale, an enter¬ 
taining fable, and with some reason, for Pliny, the specious rogue, 
carried his hero in some mysterious way across to the Red Sea, 
and that though he never made him pass the Equator. So much 
for Hanno’s Commentaries and a love of ancient lore; but what 
did this mean, this statement of the negro ? 

I got Benbow to question him again, and thus elicited a little 
further information. Corkran was for learning if we were far north 
of a certain cape, being perplexed as to his longitude; but of this 
the black was utterly ignorant. We gathered, however, that we 
were south of a river called by the Portuguese the Fernand Vaz, 
where there were native villages, and many tribes with kings. 
How was he aware of this ? we asked. Simply because he had 
been taken prisoner in battle by men who ate human flesh, but 
from whom he had escaped, and wandering south had entered 
the “’ngilla” country, as he called it. 

“ ’Ngilla ! ” I cried, when I heard him so say, “ by all the fiends ! 
the apes of Pliny were called gorillas ! ” 

“ Ecod ! ” said Corkran, “ I am convinced these be the same 
Pongos of which I have heard in Angola, who swing from branch 
to branch, and clutching the hunter by the hair of the head, draw 
him upwards, and then rip him open or crush him to death. 
There are none such at the Cape or in Terra de Natal.” 

“ This seems a cheerful place at which we have arrived,” said 
Jacob, who was listening open-mouthed. 

“ Thanks be to you,” snapped Corkran, whose good humour 
had not fully returned. 

The smith beamed on him, and never uttered a word. His 
was a most effective method of turning aside anger. 


i8o 


The Golden Kingdom 


We endeavoured to discover how the negro recognised the 
place, which to our eyes had no distinguishing feature, but 
Corrobee shook his bullet head and tapped his forehead, as 
though to say the knowledge was within, and would stay there. 
I was now full of interest; my imagination took fire, and I 
stared long and steadfastly at the dull green fringe, as though 
I would pierce to its depths and explore its mysteries. I scarce 
thought that I was yet to do so in some measure. The wind 
would not serve us for the north, and as we were only desirous of 
finding a safe landing-place, and had no wish to encounter traders 
or natives in force, we stood south, and towards nightfall were off 
a spot which seemed suited to our purpose. The shore trended 
sharply seawards, and sent a spit of high ground running out as a 
promontory to the north. This formed the outer barrier of a 
cove or small bay, into which we hoped to run the ship, there 
being still water at its entrance. And we did so, Benbow in 
the chains with the lead, Corkran at the tiller, Jacob, myself, 
and the slaves ready and alert to swing the yards or furl sail. 
We found a good depth of water and a shelving shore with a 
shingly beach. What is more, there was good holding ground, 
and we cast anchor and breathed easily, for it is a ticklish 
matter gliding over unknown shoals where the deep hue of ocean 
is lost, and a muddy green replaces the glorious blue colour that 
sailors love. 

We said nothing to the slaves, fearing to excite them, but the 
poor creatures smelt the land, and noticed the stillness of the 
ship, whereat they set up a great and joyous clamour, for Jacob 
had given them to understand they were going home. 

“ Home ! ” said Corkran sourly. “ Half of them will starve, 
and the wild beasts will take toll of them, and the wilder 
cannibals have them in their cooking-pots. I ask you what 
will the Pongos say to this invasion of their land ? No, no, you 
had better have been content with Barbadoes, my masters.” 

To tell the truth I began to think he was right, but I thought 
otherwise the next morning when we brought them up in batches. 
Their eagerness was a sight to see, they came crowding from 
below, breathing hard, with faces aglow, with shouts and cries, 



The Great Apes 181 

and we had much ado to deal with them in small detachments. 
Once on deck, and as soon as they had clapped eyes on trees 
and solid earth, they danced and leaped into the air, and behaved 
as though they were exceeding drunk. They knelt to us and 
kissed our feet, at least they would have done so, but Corkran 
kicked them out of the way, calling them swine and cattle, and 
guineas lost, and the rest of us avoided them, for, to tell the 
truth, they stank most foully. For all his hardness and gruffness, 
I think my old man of the sea was not so very averse to the 
spectacle. It was a new phase of life to him, and I saw his 
mouth twitch and the scar on his face change colour as he 
watched the extravagant happiness of those Africans. Some¬ 
where I think he had a heart not wholly seared and shrivelled 
by the fires of temptation and the hot passions of a fierce and 
roving life. 

There was no difficulty in getting the slaves ashore. They 
took matters into their own hands, and went themselves, plunging 
over the side like water-dogs, and making for the beach. Every 
one of them could swim save those who were ill or weak. Two 
of those who had been wounded in the fight had died, but the 
others had recovered so that they could walk. One, whose leg 
had been broken in the gale, had been killed by his fellows, and 
at his own desire, for such was their custom. Being without 
lethal weapons they had choked him, a very horrible form of 
death as it seemed to me. Such, however, are the tragedies of a 
slave ship. 

We had no boat, but we constructed a simple kind of raft, on 
which we conveyed the helpless and the crippled to land, taking 
as much food as we could spare them, and once ashore their 
antics were laughable to watch. They threw the sand into the 
air, they buried their faces in it, they rolled on it, they seemed 
as though they could not get enough of the land smell into their 
nostrils; it appeared that the earth touching their flat soles was 
not sufficient. They were in an ecstasy, but sobered down at 
last, bade us farewell, and trooped into the woods, going we knew 
not whither, nor, for that matter, did we greatly care. All the 
time we had taken the precaution of being well armed, for savages 


182 The Golden Kingdom 

are apt to be treacherous, and there was much aboard the 
Kittkvake that would have enriched them beyond their fondest 
dreams of avarice. 

There remained behind Corrobee and his two mates, who 
expressed their willingness to voyage farther with us, being 
tempted by the thought of regular meals and decent treatment. 
For our part we were glad to have them, and promised them a 
wage did they serve us faithfully. It was curious to think that 
they had no idea of our destination, and never troubled their 
heads about it. The negro is very largely a creature of the 
present. So, indeed, was I for the nonce, letting my thoughts 
range no farther than the forest which ended at the shore in bush 
and low scrub, and was screened by a multitude of creeping and 
twining plants, which festooned the branches and trunks of the 
tall, straight trees. For a time I had to be content with viewing 
them from a distance. 

Corkran’s plugs had served us so far, the weather having been 
calm, but he was intent on making the ship sound, and all day 
we were at work. We careened the vessel, shifting her ballast 
and what cargo remained, and wrought at the timbers inside and 
out, making free use of canvas soaked in pitch. It was then I 
realised what old Nicholas must have endured, and the full extent 
of his fortitude. Let any who have laboured in a slaver’s hold 
within the tropic belt bear testimony. What had at first helped 
him was his mass of sticky drug stuff, which was a product of 
Arabia, but he had finished it the day after we left the Ogobo, 
and then his endurance had been taxed to the uttermost. To 
tell the truth I would have liked to investigate the effect of his 
medicine on myself, though I opine it was of the nature of bhang, 
a hemp of India. 

I had more need of something to allay the heat, which was of a 
truth overpowering, despite the sea breeze. The sun’s glare on 
the sand pained our eyes, we dripped with sweat, and the 
moisture of our mouths dried up, and became thick and stringy. 
We made us hats of broad leaves, and thereby gained some 
comfort, but we hailed the still mysterious night and the land 
breeze, soft and scented, with unfeigned pleasure. Next day our 


The Great Apes 183 

forces were divided, Corkran, Benbow, and two of the blacks 
remaining by the ship and cove by way of guard, and to search 
for water, while Jacob, Corrobee, and myself set out to explore 
the leafy depths and look for fruits and any game that might ue 
edible. We went armed with a musket and a hatchet apiece, 
Jacob discarding his hammer on that occasion, much to his 
subsequent regret, while the negro bore a netted hammock on 
his shoulders in which to carry our spoil. It was a mighty relief, 
and at the same time a strange experience, to plunge from the 
full blaze of sunshine into the gloom and closeness of the forest. 
And what a forest! 

Coarse grass matted the ground, creepers ran like snakes 
hither and thither, and covered fallen tree-trunks and mouldering 
logs. Plants sprang upwards, spiked or branched, some with 
thin, drooping fronds, others with pulpy leaves coated with gum¬ 
like juice. Here and there, like stars set in a firmament of green, 
white blossoms gleamed amongst the foliage, now and then we 
encountered hanging masses of scarlet and of purple. There 
was no path, but in parts the growth was sparse and marching 
easy, in other places we had to hew our way, cutting strands of 
vegetation which parted like tense cables, and forcing through 
thick, smooth-stemmed brake. More than once a snake glided 
from before us, and I saw one reptile hanging like a thick, brown 
and withered tendril from a bosky branch. Had it not moved 
with the easy grace of a serpent I had passed it by unnoticed. 
As it was, I severed its wedge-shaped, hissing head from its 
squirming body with one blow of my axe. I forgot discomfort 
in ceaseless won :er at the vagaries of plant life, and its amazing 
profusion. Here Nature had sown with a lavish hand, and to 
what purpose ? Verily it was hard to tell, for we saw scarce an 
animal or bird, and every sign of the decay of years, the rottenness 
of ages. 

Whenever, by gestures or otherwise, I questioned Corrobee as 
to the ’ngillas, he replied, “ Ivolo, ivolo,” which, as I am about to 
show, are the wooded bogs where these astounding creatures love 
to dwell. Some, I doubt not, will class me as a Mandeville or 
second Pliny, but I write in sober earnest; and how are those 


184 The Golden Kingdom 

dead dogs who never stir beyond the sight of their chimney 
smoke to sit in judgment ? What do such home birds know of the 
works of the Almighty, of the magnificence of far countries, of the 
secrets of distant seas, of the marvels of such a mighty continent as 
this of Africa ? Let them break their mother’s apron-strings; let 
them shake off their village dust and fare foreign as I have done. 
Then, indeed, they may speak if they will; but I trow they will 
be glad to hold their tongues, and thank God silently for perils 
past, and the glimpse they have had of things which are 
beyond our feeble imaginings and understandings. 

After a time we were utterly exhausted, but we reached a glade 
for all the world like some English park, in which were clumps of 
spreading trees, and which was studded by wild-flowers of every 
colour till it looked like one of our fen meadows in the sweet 
springtime. It was there, as we rested, that we saw a troop of 
monkeys swinging past upon a journey. They chattered at the 
sight of us, and made a prodigious noise amongst the leaves. 
Corrobee was keen we should shoot at them, giving us to under¬ 
stand they were excellent as food; but I had not the heart to 
fire at creatures which had the faces of infants—no—nor the 
stomach to eat them. We swallowed the provender and drank 
the water we had brought with us, and did not stir till it had 
grown cooler. Then we penetrated a little farther into the heart 
of the forest, and straightway met with a surprising adventure. 
It was very quiet, for the incessant hum of nocturnal insects had 
not yet begun. No bird called bell-like from the bush, no 
creature gave tongue. I began to think the little monkeys had the 
whole vast domain to themselves, when suddenly there reached 
us the sound of a snapping branch. The negro stood still. 

“ ’Ngilla ! ” said he, in a hoarse whisper. 

We advanced in the direction of the noise, treading softly, and 
all at once Corrobee, who was leading, pointed to the ground, 
which was beginning to be soft and moist. Upon it were 
imprinted four separate marks, which I inspected. Two might 
have been made by heels pressed downwards by a heavy body. 
The other two, each composed of four separate depressions, 
puzzled me, till the negro closed his fist and turned it downwards. 


The Great Apes 185 

Then I perceived they must be the tracks left by the knuckles of 
huge hands. We were beyond a doubt in the region of the great 
apes. 

“ Ivolo ! ” said our black bearer, waving a hand in front, and I 
shook with excitement as I heard the crash of some heavy body 
not far from where I stood. The negro signed to us to be very 
silent, and led the way, following the trail of this monster, which 
had but recently been creeping amongst the undergrowth. I 
looked at Jacob. He was a mass of sweat and scratches, but 
followed me doggedly, though I knew he did not relish this 
woodcraft as I did, and was itching for a sleep, being as a rule 
phlegmatic as a Dutchman in these hot latitudes. 

There was need of caution. Corrobee had imitated the method 
in which these apes attack, which seemed to consist in a swift 
rush, a ripping blow, and a rapid retreat; so that any moment 
one of them might make for us, springing from out the wilderness 
of foliage by which we were surrounded. Further, I recalled 
Corkran’s tales of the Pongos of Angola, and kept a look-out for 
danger lurking amongst the branches overhead. So we moved 
onwards, every muscle on the stretch, our eyes glancing in all 
directions ; and then, immediately in front of us, there ensued 
a tremendous commotion. Leaves rustled, wood cracked and 
splintered, there was the noise which branches make when 
suddenly let go and when they fly up amongst their fellows, the 
sound of heavy bodies rushing in haste through the forest and 
thudding to earth; yet so thick was the green screen that we 
could see nothing. The negro, however, sprang forward, and I 
followed him. We ran hotly in pursuit, tripping, breathless, cut 
in the face by twigs and thorns, but we were rewarded. 

Suddenly we emerged upon an open glade where the ground 
was swampy and the trees sparse. Across this open space, 
hanging downwards by both arms from the boughs, swinging in 
a most ungainly fashion from limb to limb, and yet progressing 
with great rapidity, went well-nigh a dozen extraordinary creatures. 
In a moment I recognised they were the hairy people of Hanno, 
the huge apes of Pliny and the Periplus, the ’ngillas of the 
natives. Most had their backs to me; some I saw in profile; 


186 


The Golden Kingdom 


one gazed at us over his shoulder, but he ran on the earth on all 
fours, his thick arms of an enormous length thrust straight out 
before him. Their squat, unwieldy bodies were covered with 
brown hair save in the middle of the back, where was a 
black patch of bare hide, and, as I found thereafter, it had a 
counterpart upon the chest. Their shoulders were hunched, 
their bellies protuberant, their legs short, exceeding massive and 
bowed like those of Captain Benjy or of Corkran. He who 
looked backwards at us was indeed repulsive and strangely 
human. The upper part of his face was a flat-sided ridge, and 
below its crest were set two small eyes, dark and wondering. 
Below these there projected a black nozzle, on the point of which 
were set two slanting nostrils, which quivered with surprise or 
fear. His mouth was open, and showed two terrible canine teeth 
gleaming against thick ebon gums ; while I could see that he had 
ears—little crinkled ears—set far back in his head, in shape like 
those of a child. 

I stood awestruck, gazing after these creatures, and perceived 
they had no tails, and that one of them, shorter and slighter than 
the others—believe me or not, as you will—clutched a babe to her 
breast, for she was a female and a mother. All the time they 
fled they made a loud clucking, alarmed noise, and he who ran 
on heels and knuckles stopped once, faced us, and drummed with 
clenched fists upon his bosom in evident rage. I made ready 
to fire at him, but ere I was prepared he turned and resumed his 
flight, and soon every trace of them had vanished in the recesses 
of the virgin woods. 

I could scarce credit my senses; but that proof might not be 
lacking, there were footmarks at our feet, and broken and stripped 
branches around us, and patches of red berries on which they 
had been feeding. Were these indeed apes? I asked myself, or 
the ancestors of man himself? The thought was impious, but, 
for all that, irresistible. The gait of these weird animals was 
perilously near mine own, their forms and faces human; the 
female, which I had seen sideways, the image of some hideous 
hag. I passed my hand across my dripping forehead, and 
slowly regained my breath. 


The Great Apes 187 

An exclamation from the negro roused me, and, following the 
direction indicated by his outstretched hand, I saw none other 
than Jacob Little, who had just emerged from one side of the 
glade. From the manner in which he looked about him, I 
perceived he had lost his way in trying to follow us. 

“ ’Tis fortunate,” thought I, “ that he stumbled on this open 
place while we are still here”; and with that I “hulloaed” to 
him, for he was a considerable distance away, and would never 
have seen us if left to himself. 

He heard me, and at once came striding in our direction. 
Involuntarily I compared him with these gorillas I had seen. 
He was head and shoulders taller than any of them, and, being 
a man of exceptional size, might compare with them in girth and 
thickness of shoulder, while his legs were straight, and- 

Thus I thought, and then ceased to think at all; for something 
else had come out into the open at the very spot Jacob had 
quitted. I gazed at it, wholly lost in surprise, stupefied with 
amazement, and my heart again started throbbing against my 
ribs till I could feel its beatings in my throat. As for the black, 
he threw himself down upon his face and wailed in mortal fear. 
And he had reason for so doing—his action was not without 
justification; for that which had all of a sudden stepped forth 
into the bright sunlight, that which must have been following the 
smith, that which stood, bowed and restless, at the edge of the 
forest screen, was either a white man or a white ape ! I rubbed 
my eyes and looked towards it again. The figure reared itself, 
and started beating on its chest as the retreating pongo had 
done. I saw it more clearly, and was no longer in doubt. It 
was a gigantic ape of the same species as the others, but with 
this difference—whereas their body hair had been brown, the 
hue of withered leaves, this creature’s hair, long and shaggy, 
was—believe me or not, as you will—well-nigh a pure white. 
Silvery grey is, perchance, a better term; but in parts it was 
indeed the colour of snow, tinged with a dull yellow, as though 
soiled. To be sure, I did not at once recognise these particulars. 
I only saw this gorilla was white, white and hideous; for his face, 
his breast and his hands were black. 


188 


The Golden Kingdom 

“ Could anything be more strange ? ” I asked myself. The ape 
had white hair, but so also had Jacob Little. The latter I knew 
to be an albino, but what was this dweller in the ivolo, this fearful 
and grotesque brute which haunted the wooded swamp ? As I 
watched conviction came to me. There was that in the way it 
straightened itself which told me the truth. Its colour was that 
of old age. The creature was a veteran. Since then I have 
heard that amongst elephants it is the habit of an old bull to 
draw apart and live alone, morose and savage. So, no doubt, 
was it with this solitary apparition ; it was in all probability a 
lonely outcast, a hermit of extreme age, which had tracked Jacob 
to this open space, plainly resenting the smith’s intrusion into its 
domain. 

The ape was angry, and though it has taken me much ink and 
time to recount these, my imaginings, concerning it, in reality 
they came and went like a flash, and I was shouting a warning 
to my comrade. 

There was need. At the sound of my voice the animal 
dropped on all fours and made a rush at the man, its fore¬ 
arms fully stretched, its body sloping to its legs, which, owing 
to their shortness and crookedness, had a weak and impotent 
look, its face thrust forward, its mouth open, and its teeth visible. 
In height it did not reach to much more than Jacob’s middle, 
but its bulk was vast, equalling, nay, even surpassing, that of 
the great smith, and no doubt making it appear shorter than it 
really was. 

“ To the side, spring to the side, Jacob, for your life ! ” I had 
the sense to yell. 

The ape was taking him unawares from behind, but just before 
it reached him the smith obeyed me. His movement saved him. 
I saw the brute rear itself and strike out with both hands, its 
black fingers curved like a bird’s claws, its trunk balanced on its 
bending legs. One huge paw caught Jacob by the arm, but the 
ape had overbalanced itself and fell forward. Probably, according 
to its custom, vouched for by Corrobee, it would have retreated, 
foiled in its attack, but that was not to be, for Jacob, whose 
vision was feeble in the br ight light, seeing what he took to be a 


The Great Apes 189 

hairy man trying to molest him, promptly grappled with the 
monster. He had lost his hatchet, and he threw aside his 
musket as a useless weapon. Had his familiar hammer been at 
hand I doubt not he would have dealt with the ape in a different 
fashion. As it was he gripped it with both hands by its hairy 
throat. 

The smith told me thereafter that he experienced a terrible 
shock as he realised what he had tackled, as he felt the thick, 
hard cords which served the gorilla for neck muscles, the coarse¬ 
ness of its hair, ay, and the strength of its long arms as it 
clutched him to itself. Above all, however, the abominable 
fcetor of its breath, the foul expiration of its old age, was what 
nearly conquered him. It turned him sick, even as astonishment 
unnerved him. Consequently, at the beginning, the ape had the 
better of the struggle; it held him fast and close, so that his 
arms being bent, he could not exert his full force upon it and 
thrust it away from him, and all the time it clawed at his back, 
rending the stout cloth of his clothes. 

Then, however, it brought about its own undoing, for it started 
striking out with its feet, if one can so call them. It tore his 
breeches and scored the skin of his legs. The pain roused the 
smith, and in a moment he began to battle in deadly earnest. As 
for me, I could not fire, fearing to hit Jacob, while the negro 
was useless by reason of terror. Axe in hand I ran towards the 
combatants, and was witness of the fight. Jacob braced himself 
and began to overpower the monster. He pressed outwards with 
his arms and loosened its hold upon his body. Then he forced 
its head away, worrying at its throat, and shaking its head from 
side to side. Still it struck at his shins, and he had to drive his 
heavy shoes into it. His hat was gone, and it was extraordinary 
to see his white hair and contrast it with that of the ape. They 
began to stagger with the intensity of the contest, and, ere I 
could reach them, had collapsed, and were rolling on the ground, 
now the man uppermost, anon the ape. The latter was choking, 
and yet growling savagely, while he strove in vain to bite. I 
came up to them at last. 

“ Let me finish him ! ” I cried, though I dreaded striking the 


190 The Golden Kingdom 

man by mistake, they were so locked together in each other’s 
embrace. 

“ No, no,” gasped Jacob; “ I shall master him.” 

He was bleeding, panting, in rags, but his spirit was indomit¬ 
able. Yet I verily believe had this ape been in the prime of its 
life, in the full glory of its power and vigour, that Jacob had 
been dead ere I could have aided him. The creature was com¬ 
paratively feeble, but I ask you how many men could have 
successfully encountered this old king of the forest? Its rage and 
despair were a sight to witness as it felt itself being vanquished. 
It struggled convulsively, its eyes bulged from its skull, it twisted 
and wrestled in an agony of suffocation. I am not minded to 
describe its end. I have seen old men die deaths which were not 
violent, and the sight is painful; imagine, then, what it was to 
see the breath squeezed and pressed and hammered out of the 
body of this old man of the woods. 

“ I shall master him,” said Jacob, and he did so; but by the 
time the ape was still and stiffening the smith could only lie 
beside its hideous body, and gasp in a state of utter exhaustion. 

For my part I could but marvel dully at the strange chance 
which had brought about the meeting of these twain, the white 
man and the white ape. 


CHAPTER XVII 


THE SKELETON AND THE SEA SCOURGE 

As I have said, I am convinced that some who know no better 
will term me a liar, but I ask you, could any one not having 
witnessed such a scene as I have described, faithfully conjure up 
a vision thereof, and then proceed to give a picture of the fallen 
champion as I am about to do ? I trow not. 

Learn, then, that the dead ape measured twelve hands in 
height, judging him as we do a horse, had shoulders of pro¬ 
digious thickness, a chest which must have been two yards in 
girth and had a framework of ribs in shape like those of a man’s 
thorax, but the bones were very knobbed and massive. His arms, 
hard as steel bands, were well-nigh as long as his body, and 
ended in tough-skinned hands bearing each five black and 
wrinkled fingers. There was an ebon nail to each finger, and 
the thumb was set in opposition to the other four prehensile 
digits. The belly of the beast was paunched, but this part of its 
trunk was shrunken as compared with its chest and shoulders. 
Still more withered looking were its bent and stumpy legs; its 
feet were narrow and flat, and the big toe of each was placed 
far apart. It was clear that the brute was wonderfully fashioned 
for tree life, and I doubt not that such creatures, at home on the 
ground, at home in the air, armed with what are in very truth 
four gigantic hands, furnished with great teeth, though I question 
if they use these much in warfare, with arms of prodigious length 
and strength, and the power of rearing themselves erect, 1 
doubt not, I say, that they are the most formidable foes on earth. 
They have the forest to themselves. Where they live, there do 

191 


192 The Golden Kingdom 

they reign, and have reigned, and will reign till mastered by the 
master man, who, unlike Jacob Little, will, I fear, take an unfair 
advantage of these mighty berry-feeders. 

The face of one of the ’ngillas I have described, that of our 
victim differed from it in some particulars. It was, if possible, 
more human, there being no bony crest to the skull, which was 
rounded ; the skin of the nozzle was a yellowish black like 
stained leather, and the teeth were few and broken. Its whole 
aspect, indeed, was that of a Caliban. Canines it had, two 
great stumps, but they were blunted and chipped, and the colour 
of old ivory. A bristle of coarse hairs depended from the chin, 
for all the world like a beard. Hideous in life, the ape was still 
more hideous in death, and yet of an extraordinary likeness to 
some aged man. It was then I noted the hue of its shaggy 
coat, which hung on it in patches, and was grey and white, but 
of a soiled appearance, as I have stated. 

So it lay, naked and grisly, and when Jacob had got back his 
breath and I had made shift to bind up his wounds as best I could, 
we set Corrobee to skin it. The native, who had approached the 
carcase timidly, on being convinced that the ape was dead, 
behaved as though he himself had slain it, singing a song of 
triumph, and taunting and kicking the motionless form ere he 
proceeded to make it yet more ghastly. I, who was versed in 
anatomy, marvelled afresh at its similarity to man, and was all 
eagerness to see the brain ; but the hatchet edges turned on the 
dense skull bones and we had no saw. Furthermore, it was 
growing late. The darkness would descend suddenly like a mantle, 
and we had no fancy to spend the night in such a wilderness. 
Therefore, we merely secured the hide, which the negro, who now 
worshipped Jacob as a god, stowed away in his net, and we 
proceeded to retrace our steps. Without the black we had been 
lost, and in all probability would have perished miserably. Even 
as it was night overtook us, and the wonder of these high woods 
was intensified fourfold. 

Now, indeed, there was evidence of life ; the hum of insects, the 
croak of frogs, weird cries and calls, and the whisper of the land 
breeze stealing seawards amongst the tree-tops. Luminous beetles 


The Skeleton and the Sea Scourge 193 

like tiny floating lamps flashed amongst the undergrowth, in the 
coarse grass other lights glowed and winked, leaves and creepers 
rustled as creatures moved amongst them, and the blackness was 
such as could be felt. We halted and waited for the moon. She 
rose at length, and her pale light filtered down through the canopy 
of interlacing boughs till we found ourselves in a bower full of 
ghostly, shadowy radiance. Here and there a white tree stem 
glinted in the silvery rays, here and there was a glade bathed in 
glory, but for the most part we resumed our march through a world 
which looked unreal. The flying fires paled, the glow-worms 
quenched their lanterns, but the air continued tremulous with 
sound, and every swamp frog made hearty melody till their 
choruses were deafening. As I live I had to pinch myself to make 
sure I was not dreaming, or that all these things I saw and heard 
were not a mere phantasy of an overwrought brain. But no ; I had 
to aid Jacob, who was lame and crippled, and he was very solid 
flesh and blood. His eyes, no longer blind, for the first time took 
in the full wonder of the scene, and this helped him, I verily 
believe, to forget his injuries, for he was most patient and 
uncomplaining. 

The negro led the way, flitting in front of us like some black 
fiend who had gained an entrance into paradise ; but as we were 
traversing an open space, dotted with earth hillocks thrown up by 
busy ants, he suddenly came to a standstill. We also halted, and, 
having done so, distinctly heard a very curious rattling, as though 
the wind were sporting with loosened portions of the bark of some 
rugged tree. To my surprise the sound approached us; whatever 
caused it was on a journey. Corrobee made haste to hide behind 
an ant-heap, and we were fain to follow his example, wondering 
what new adversary we might have to face, what fresh adventure 
awaited us. After all it was nothing very deadly, at least not to 
us, though no doubt a cause of terror and confusion to those tiny 
toilers who laboured underground, and had reared these pointed 
and rounded structures behind which we sheltered. The rattling 
proceeded from an animal having an armour of scales, a short, 
thick-set creature, with a very lengthy snout and a thick tail. It 
came into sight, running quickly towards us, unconscious of danger, 

13 


r 94 


The Golden Kingdom 


and was of so curious an aspect that I was much diverted thereat. 
Unhappily for itself it sought to pass close by the negro, and in a 
moment he had leapt upon it, knife in hand, and had despatched 
it. He gave us to understand it was an ant-eater, and called, if my 
memory serves me, the ipi; but what was of more importance was 
that from his gestures we gathered that it was a most succulent 
dainty, though uninviting in appearance. Thereafter we put 
Corrobee to the proof, and I am free to confess that the flesh had 
the flavour of a fat capon, and comforted us in no small measure 
ere we harked back to the abomination called salted junk. 

It will be apparent that we gained the ship in safety, and this is 
true, for we met with no further incidents, but were mightily 
glad to hear the booming of the surf, and catch a glimpse of the 
Kittiwake's tracery standing out against the moonlit sky. 

I write for mine own delectation, and for that of a person who 
can never hear enough of my past career, but any other readers, 
should such exist, may very well say, what of this Empire of 
Monomotapa, this golden kingdom of which we hoped so much ? 
Well, well, many another, my good friends, had hopes of the same 
place which came to nought, yet I shall not wholly disappoint you; 
but a little patience is a virtue indeed, though, mark you, we are 
even now bound aboard the Kittiwake for the Cape of Good 
Hope, intent on Corkran’s quest. There is no need to be weari¬ 
some over an account of our reception by that same worthy and 
by John Benbow, of their interest in, and wonder at, the ape’s raw 
hide, of the days we spent on land, of our setting sail once more, 
and of our steady voyaging to the south, after having filled our 
water casks with very doubtful fluid. It was weary work, and we 
suffered from loss of sleep and the heat, and occasional calms; but 
nothing of importance occurred, according to my diurnal, till we 
fell in with a certain being who was to play no mean part in our 
future welfare. 

I was in the fore-top, a favourite perch, whence I could view 
the ship like a plaything beneath me, the ocean stretch around, 
and see the flying fish shoot from the surface and skim and splash 
like water fairies. Being thus idly occupied I spied afar off a 
black dot upon the sea. 


The Skeleton and the Sea Scourge 195 

“ Poop ahoy! M I cried in true nautical fashion ; “ there is 
something afloat a mile or more off on the port bow.” 

“ A whale, belike,” bellowed Corkran, who was got up in some 
of Benjy’s finery, and thus arrayed presented a most remarkable 
figure of a man. 

“Nay,” I shouted, “methinks ’tis too small, and there is no 
spouting.” 

“ I will get the glass,” replied our skipper, and vanished below. 

He came aloft and joined me, though he could see the object 
from the deck. Twas then we made it out to be a boat, and, 
altering our course, steered for it, the wind being light and the sea 
calm. Ere long it was rubbing against our side, having so far 
shown no sign of life aboard it. We discovered, however, it was 
not wholly derelict, there being a man stretched full length in the 
bottom, a man who at first sight appeared lifeless, and no wonder. 
His face was turned towards us, and it was very nearly the face of 
a skull, save for the hair which grew upon it in the form of a 
bushy beard. The skin was a yellow parchment stretched tensely 
upon the bones, and following their configurations. It was con¬ 
sequently a face all ridges and hollows, a countenance with the 
forehead, the open, staring eyes, the nose, the upper part of the 
cheek bones, and the line of the mouth unduly prominent. The 
man who owned it must, moreover, have been of great height 
when erect, his length was evident as he lay beneath the thwarts. 
Further, he must have been a very large man when full fed and 
properly nourished. His mere bony frame clad in rich clothes 
which lay loosely on it filled the bottom of the boat. To my eye 
he appeared even then to equal Jacob Little in size. We had 
come upon the skeleton of a veritable giant; yet that skeleton 
had life in it, though there was nothing else in the boat. Benbow, 
who had leapt into her with a rope in his hand, detected as much, 
and I descended and verified his opinion. Before shifting the 
man I managed to force brandy down his throat, finding his lips 
cracked and brittle, and his tongue almost horny in consistence. 
He was perishing from thirst, even more than from want of food. 

By my directions we hoisted him and the boat together, being 
very glad of the latter, which was sound. Her planking, however, 


196 The Golden Kingdom 

told some terrible tale of the sea. It and the thwarts and the 
stern sheets were crusted with a dark and sticky substance which 
stank vilely. I scratched it on the surface, and my suspicions 
were confirmed. At one time this drifting boat had been a 
shambles. The under surface of the man’s clothes were stiff with 
the same material, but he had no wound upon him when we came 
to examine him. 

I have said that save for its occupant and the spark of vitality 
which lingered in him, the boat was empty, but I was wrong. 
There were a few carpenters’ tools in the locker, and beneath 
the man’s body, half imbedded in the dried filth which covered 
the timbers, we found a knife, a long curved weapon with a 
handle of bone, on which were carved the letters J. van W. 

“ By the powers,” said Corkran, when he saw it, “this man is a 
Dutchman.” 

Whatever he might be he was very nearly dead. Another day 
had finished him. I could not have believed such leanness 
compatible with life. Corkran, when he came to me, had been in 
good condition compared with this wreck of a human being. I 
tell the truth when I say that one could feel his spinal column 
from the front. His very emaciation, however, enabled one to 
fully appreciate the scale on which he was built. I could handle 
his bones, ay, and they filled the hand. Were his muscles in 
fitting proportion he would be worth the saving merely to have 
the chance of seeing them develop. 

Jacob took a lively interest in our waif when he perceived his 
possibilities, and I understood his anxiety. The idea was 
grotesque, but the skeleton benefited thereby, for the smith was 
unremitting in his attentions and wrestled for his life. Whether 
or no his care turned the scale in the man’s favour I cannot tell, 
but, certain it is, our helpless giant began slowly to recover. 
Jacob, I have said, displayed the utmost solicitude regarding the 
castaway; but, for that matter, we were all interested in him. 
Any event which breaks the monotony at sea is welcome, and we 
were full of speculations anent this new-comer. The boat bore 
no name either upon her gunwale or on her stern, and we had no 
clue as to the nationality of the ship which had owned her. 


The Skeleton and the Sea Scourge 197 

Corkran would have it he was a Dutch merchant who had 
been bound homewards from Batavia with a fortune to his name. 
He took account of the richness of the man’s dress, his feathered 
headpiece and the hunting-knife, whose handle was chased with 
silver, and which was such as a man might use in a wild and 
foreign land. More for the sake of argument than anything else, 
I took the opposite view, and affirmed he had been on a voyage to 
the Cape, like ourselves, and was a person of rank in the 
Netherlands company. 

It was mere idle talk, but it served to pass the time as we 
sluggishly cleft the still sea surface, and saw the southern cross in 
the heavens, and the black, starless space in the vault which is its 
neighbour. Even yet I look longingly back on these cool, 
peaceful nights under the studded sky, the ocean silent as death, 
save where the Kittiwake sheered her way with gentle gurglings 
and splashings, and a rhythmic lap at her bows. Then with 
healthy breaths we drew long draughts of strong salt air, and our 
browned faces were fanned by cool zephyrs sporting lightly with 
our gallant ship. 

By day it was different. The sun’s glare wearied us ; the 
sameness oppressed our minds, and, perchance, some foreboding 
of the horrible thing which was to taint and sicken us haunted 
our wearied brains. We had no clue to the man’s identity ; 
there were no papers in his pockets ; no name written on the 
lining of his hat. There was, however, one thing belonging to 
him from which I hoped much, and was, at first, disappointed. A 
locket of plain gold was hung about his neck with a cord of 
plaited hair, which I shrewdly guessed had formed the tresses of 
some dark maiden. So proper a man must needs have had 
his affairs, was my reflection. I took the liberty of opening the 
ornament, which had a simple catch, at a time when the fellow 
appeared to have only a few minutes to live. To my surprise 
it contained no portrait, nothing but a sheet of folded paper, 
which when I spread out I found to be blank, save for a 
single dark red and wavy line running obliquely, and, for a short 
distance, a little to the side of the middle of the sheet. Fearing 
the gold trinket might tempt one of our sable crew, I kept it by 


The Golden Kingdom 


198 

me, intending to restore it to its owner, paper and all, should 
he regain his senses, though why any man should carry on 
his person a somewhat soiled piece of paper without a vestige of 
writing on it passed my comprehension. 

As I have said, he began to mend; but, for a week or more, 
was in a stupor, and as he thus lay he muttered constantly 
to himself. The only words I recognised were these, repeated 
over and over again, “ Verdoemde eerzucht! ” which I knew 
to mean “ damned ambition! ” Was Corkran right, or was 
I ? Did his wandering wits intend to express the futility of 
his struggles after wealth, or did they voice despair and chagrin at 
some great purpose frustrated at its outset ? The problem was of 
interest. Would it ever be solved ? 

Heaven knows I soon ceased to care. I know not whether 
this man brought us even then ill-luck, or whether it was merely 
our protracted voyage, and the vileness of our provender and of 
our drink, the absence of proper sustenance, the eating of those 
weevils of which Corkran had prophesied, or some judgment 
of God upon us for our discontent, which was the occasion of 
our new misfortune. The sea scourge, the dreaded scurvy, soon 
had us in its grip. I had never seen this fell disease of sailors, 
and I have scarce heart to write of it. 

Picture the misery of a complaint which creeps upon one 
slowly, like some crawling, evil beast, that saps the strength, and 
sends pains shooting through the muscles, which makes the skin 
yellow and branny till it is shed in tiny flakes. Imagine men 
whose lips become bluish in colour, and harsh to the tongue, 
whose gums grow soft, spongy, and swollen, and bleed of their 
own accord ; ay, and become coated as though with a horrid 
fungus till their teeth loosen and rattle in their mouths, till the 
spittle runs freely, chewing is a torture, and the breath of the 
foulest. Nor is this all. What say you, my daintily fed masters, 
my satin-skinned dames, to hard, brawny masses beneath the 
cutis, which over them becomes purple, or green, or yellow, as 
though from a bruise or blow ? Mayhap you think of the seaman 
battling with breaker and tempest, with the greedy fire, with the 
bloody pirate, or the fevers of foreign parts; but have you 


The Skeleton and the Sea Scourge 199 

ever considered him thus : breathless, fainting, perchance with 
an unholy greed for food he cannot eat, blind at night as a bat is 
blind by day, haggard, swollen, a mass of stinking ulcers, yielding 
up his blood at the bidding of the pestilence ? Tis a spotted 
horror, the very essence of loathsomeness, slow and sure, 
mysterious and deadly ; at least, save that it was far from slow, 
so it was with poor John Benbow. The poison fastened on him 
first, and he passed from bad to worse. In vain I treated 
him. I had hea rd that scurvy dragged out a long course, that it 
lasted months, and, even when far advanced, might be checked 
by the grateful juice of lemons. Juice of lemons ! We might as 
well have whistled for the juice of the forbidden fruit. I can only 
say that within a dozen days the mate, whose final symptoms 
were those of an apoplexy, had gone to his grave fathoms deep, 
sewn up in a hammock and weighted by a round shot. We 
had known him only a little time, but men grow friendly at sea, 
and in the midst of dangers, and we sorrowed at his loss. Let 
it be put on record that he died bravely, another stout mariner of 
England gone to that ocean bottom, which I trow will yet welcome 
more of his race than of any other that sails the seas. 

We were becalmed, a stagnant ship, and, one by one, we all fell 
victim, all save Corkran. Even the negroes suffered, and one 
of them went mad and leaped to the sharks, for again these 
watchmen of the deep had scented us. All save Corkran, I say, 
and our passenger, who lay drowsy and stupefied below deck. 
Never had I admired the man from Virginia, the tough old 
sea-dog, as I did during those terrible days. He went without 
sleep, he tended us, he cheered us. As we grew down-hearted he 
waxed the merrier. He sang us the strangest and most laughable 
of ditties, he fired our enthusiasm for our quest. He pictured a 
glowing future, he scoffed at death, he made believe that our 
victuals were of the finest, that the broth he brewed for our 
aching mouths was a veritable nectar. He may have been a 
villain, a wild rip, a trifle crack-brained, but he was fearless, 
that finest thing on land or water, a dauntless man. He knew 
the scurvy, none better, and, as he said : 

“ Thank your stars, my bullies, that ’tis calm. Work and 


200 


The Golden Kingdom 


scurvy cannot go on together, and I opine you have enough 
to occupy you. Stap me ! ’tis I who am the idle fellow.” 

I believe he was right. I am convinced that our enforced 
idleness was the saving of us, the reason we took the disease 
mildly, and were not utterly overcome. Jacob was the worst of 
us, and he was very brave and patient, though he suffered much, 
especially in those parts where he had been torn by the gorilla’s 
fingers and clawing toes. For all that I had a sufficient taste of 
the abomination to imagine what it must be in its severe 
form; and, indeed, since then I have seen and treated the crews 
of many ships which had been devastated by this foul plague. 

It was fortunate that two of us were not prostrate when the 
wind caught us up at last, for it was a ten-knot breeze which came 
swooping out of the north and quickened the motionless ship to 
life and activity and sent her reeling and plunging to the south’ard, 
leaving a snow-white trail in her frothing wake. 

Ere this occurred, however, ere we blessed blustering Boreas 
and had visions of a haven and succulent dishes and the breath 
of health, I had made a discovery. 

It happened one hot, sultry afternoon as the odour of tar rose 
strong upon the air and filled our cracked and festering nostrils, 
that I sat idly on deck beneath a sail rigged up as an awning. 
Too weary to read in the book of Rhazes or my pocket Bible, too 
tired to rack my brains, I drew forth the locket of the castaway, 
and speculated thereupon. Again I examined the sheet of soiled 
and folded paper, turning it this way and that, holding it up 
against the light, but all to no purpose. I could only conclude 
that the man was a Catholic, who bore about with him some curious 
relic, some agnus Dei blessed by some prelate of his church. 
Weak and ill, I lapsed into an uneasy sleep, from which I was 
aroused by the sound of a voice crying, “ A sail! A sail! ” 

Now here is a strange thing. The voice was that of Benbow, 
the mate, who slept fathoms deep beneath our keel. I staggered 
to my feet, and gazed about me with eyes which were bloodshot, 
but could see well enough even in strong light. Corkran was 
below, Jacob lay huddled close by me, the two negroes were sitting 
sullen in the bows. Our passenger I knew to be still unconscious. 


201 


The Skeleton and the Sea Scourge 

Such are the facts, with this in addition, that though there was no 
sign of a ship, the still sea surface some cables’ length from the 
Kittizvake was spreading in ripples as though a heavy stone had 
fallen upon it, parted it, and sunk beneath it. Moreover, there 
lingered upon the air the faintest trace of a very noisome odour, 
which overpowered even that of the all-pervading tar. I offer no 
theory, I merely state the matter plainly, and frankly own that I 
was ill, with tainted blood and crusted gums; but to me the 
voice was that of John Benbow, mariner deceased, and 
further my brain was unaffected, though, as I am about to show, 
I had good reason, a moment or so later, to again doubt the 
evidence of my own senses. 

I had limped feebly to the side, and now leaned heavily on the 
bulwarks, watched the disturbance vanish. I even recall the fact 
that the circling wavelets splashed softly on the barque’s side, 
from which the paint was peeling. That, however, is not the 
point. 

I had passed from beneath the shade of the awning, and 
was in the full glare of the sun, which hung high in the hazy 
heavens, a glowing dull white ball like molten metal. Uncon¬ 
sciously I held the piece of paper from the locket so that it lay 
stretched out between my fingers on the ledge, and the light 
struck fiercely on it, till its whiteness pained my eyes, and the red, 
wavy line appeared green in colour. I blinked as though I were 
a second Jacob Little, and glanced away from it at the intermin¬ 
able sea, which stretched before me once again smooth and 
unbroken, though, as I have said, the air was tainted. Confused, 
yet questioning, I stood perchance three long minutes scanning 
the horizon, and then turned with a sigh, paper in hand. 

Mechanically I looked at it, and what was this I saw ? Where 
there had been no writing there were now words, where there had 
been a blank there was something drawn—something not yet 
complete, but visibly growing before my eyes. There was purple 
upon the paper, a purple ink which took the shape of letters in 
some parts, and in others that of lines which slowly increased in 
length, and became joined one to another. 

I rubbed my eyes ; I asked myself if I were mad ? I held the 


202 


The Golden Kingdom 

paper in the sun, deliberately remained blind, and slowly and 
carefully recounted to myself the main facts of the past three 
months. The sequence was perfect, my memory was good. I 
could reason, though my brain was languid; decidedly I was not 
insane. “ Then,” said I, “ this is some passing hallucination bred 
of the scurvy,” and opened my eyes. 

Surprised before, I was doubly, trebly, fourfold more astonished 
at this second view I took of the contents of the locket. The sun 
had worked its will upon the paper, and at its bidding the secret 
had been yielded up in full, line had joined with line, figures had 
sprung into their places, names had become complete, chaos had 
given way to order. 

An invisible ink, you say ; we have heard of such, it is nothing 
very wonderful. That, my friends, I grant you. I also, was 
cognisant of such ingenious preparations, though I had never 
before witnessed the transformations they effect, yet that was but 
the slightest source of my amazement, for there before my eyes, 
in deep purple ink—believe me or not as you will—was something 
I had seen before, something familiar to me, something which 
had been an influence upon my life. It was the chart of Corkran 
the Coxswain. 


CHAPTER XVIII 
WE MAKE THE LAND 

I put it to you solemnly, heard you ever the like? Is it any 
wonder that I stood stock still in the eye of the sun, with mouth 
wide opened, and a tongue, which, for once, forgot to try to moisten 
my blistered lips. 

Truth is stranger than fiction. In my time I had read tales of 
curious coincidences, had listened to yarns anent queer encounters, 
but this surpassed them all. Here was a man, a Dutchman, 
belike, picked up by a chance ship, starving and athirst in mid¬ 
ocean, in the tropics, in a boat crusted with dried blood, and 
having nothing to identify him save a locket, a sheet of paper 
devoid of writing, and perchance a hunting-knife. And yet this 
very paper now plainly exhibited a replica of the chart which 
lay in the bauble hung in Corkran’s beard hairs, in the trinket 
belonging to the Captain of the said vessel; was, indeed, almost 
identical with the geographer’s plan which had largely helped to 
bring about the voyage of the said barque and was the main cause 
of the troubles of her company. It will be observed I have said 
“ almost identical.” It was therefore not an exact copy. For 
one thing the names were writ in Dutch instead of English, Cape 
was spelt Kaap, Good was Goed, Hope was Hoop. For another, 
the arrangement of places seemed, as far as I could remember, to 
be somewhat different, yet the essentials were the same; for 
example the coast line, the Portuguese titles, the pictures of 
animals and birds, and above all things the words Terra de Natal 
and Monomotapa. Further, and here was a mystery, the name 

203 


204 


The Golden Kingdom 

Camissa was scored through with that very red and wavy line 
which had constituted the sole mark upon the paper, and had a 
counterpart in Corkran’s map. A few other facts I noted. 
Curiously enough to the north of Terra de Natal, between the 
words Cortada and Terra Alta, was set a purple cross and this 
inscription in characters the most minute— 

Hier is de gulden stad van O.S. 

which I took to mean, Here is the golden city of O.S, whatever 
O.S. might signify. By all the fiends ! it was writ in the very spot 
which Corkran had indicated with his black-tipped finger-nail. 
Below it was a single word “ Bossiemans ” in large letters, and in 
similar type, and at another place I spelt “ Inquas.” 

Stopping to read no more I folded up this precious document 
and tottered aft. I well-nigh fell down the companion ladder, 
neglecting in my haste to turn round upon it, and forgetting how 
feeble I was. 

I saved myself, however, from a bad tumble and broke into 
the main cabin. There was the man I sought; a tuft of his 
coarse wig hair hanging over one eye, a glass of aqua vitae con¬ 
venient at his elbow; his cheeks working as he chewed a quid, 
and before him upon the table my treatise on the fevers. 

“ Ho, Doctor Harry ! ” said he, scarce looking at me, for he 
knew my step, “ see what I have found,” and with that he began 
reading aloud the very passage I had chanced upon when awaiting 
an attack from Squire Pumphret and the villagers. He read 
slowly but correctly, yet with the most villainous pronunciation: 
“ ‘ Barbari tamen, nonnullis in locis cummen quamdam, ex 
arboribus lactam sese unguentes ad sua corpore adhibent, ut 
hunc in modum defensi, paludes incolumes transgrediantur.’ 
Nor is this all,” he cried; “I have discovered a description of 
these very trees. Listen ! ” 

“Nay, nay ! ” I cried, “listen rather to me.” 

He looked up. 

“ By Daddy Neptune ! ” said he, “ what’s gone wrong, my lad ? 
Hast seen a spirit ? ” 

I told him all, and he sat and listened quietly. As I proceeded 
his eyes grew compassionate, and he shook his head. 


We Make the Land 


205 


“ I have known it do this,” he muttered. 

“ You doubt me ?” I exclaimed, mumbling my words by reason 
of the soreness of my mouth. “ You think the scurvy has turned 
my wits. Well, seeing is believing ; and what say you to this ? ” 

With that I spread the paper before him; and he looked at it, 
and nodded. I also looked at it, and uttered a cry far back in my 
throat. There was not a vestige of the chart upon it—nothing 
but the red and wavy line in the spot where I had seen drawn the 
course of the river called Camissa. My brain reeled; I looked 
helplessly about me. 

“ Why,” I gasped, “ it has faded ! But come on deck—come 
on deck. We’ll put it in the sun, and then you’ll see.” 

“Ay, ay,” he answered soothingly; “we’ll on deck. But the 
sun is no place for you, my poor lad.” 

We mounted the ladder; and again I spread the paper, with 
hands which trembled a trifle, in the full, strong light of the 
afternoon. We both watched it intently, and the minutes sped. 
It was in vain. No specks or blotches, no lines, no writing— 
nothing, absolutely nothing, appeared upon it. I took it from off 
the wood, and held it up in the air. It made no difference. 

“ I told you the truth,” I said desperately, feeling all the time 
as if I lied. “ Look at the red mark ! ” 

“ Ay, ay; that’s the cause o’t all, I take it,” he replied; and 
then he dragged me, protesting feebly, under the shade of the 
awning, and, deaf to my expostulations, he went and lowered a 
bucket over the side, and sluiced my head and neck with the sea 
water till I begged him to desist, owing to the smarting of my lips 
as the salt lodged in their cracks. The douche was warm, almost 
hot, but it did me good. It cooled my brain, and removed my 
anxiety to set myself right with Corkran. I knew that my reason 
was sound, that this surprising thing had really happened, but I 
found myself questioning as to whether or no it was the result of 
some concatenation of circumstances. It had followed upon the 
strange cry, the disturbance in the sea, and the noisome odour. 
Was it in any way connected therewith ? I had dabbled a little 
in the occult sciences, and was aware that “ there are more things 
in heaven and earth than are dreamed of in our philosophy.” 


2o6 


The Golden Kingdom 

It was, however, no use filling my mind with vague surmises. I 
reflected that the ink might be such as to respond once to the 
stimulus of light or heat, or whatever affected it, and only once. 
If so, what would the owner of the paper say ? True, the whole 
thing had come about by chance. I had certainly tried to make 
out what the paper portended, but only with a view of establishing 
the man’s identity in case he should yet slip through my fingers. 

Circumstances had led me to a discovery. Of what? Was 
Corkran right, or was I ? This castaway might have visited the 
city of gold, have secured its treasures, and been wrecked on his 
journey home, a man of wealth. This would certainly account 
for these oft-repeated words, “ Vtrdocmde eerzucht .” Corkran 
might be incredulous, but I resolved to put our passenger to the 
test. There was no use our prosecuting a search after nothing, 
proceeding farther on a wild-goose chase. Again, the man might 
be our rival. He also might have intelligence concerning the 
true site of this land of treasure, and have been voyaging thither 
when calamity overtook him. If so, would it be wise to get him 
to join forces with us ? 

He did not look like a person who would relish being thwarted. 
His was essentially a strong face, despite its withered leanness. 
His forehead was broad, his eyes deep-set, his nose high-bridged 
and clean-cut. His great, rolling black beard was not the fluffy, 
straggling appendage of a weakling. No, our uninvited visitor 
was strong, for good or for evil; but it seemed to me that fate 
had perchance been kind enough to put him somewhat in my 
power; the mysterious paper might be a warning, might yet save 
us from folly or from danger. 

So certain was I that my senses had not fooled me that after 
Corkran had left me I immersed the paper in the water remaining 
in the bucket, and again exposed it to the sun. It was not right. 
I had no business to take such liberties with the property of 
another; but, then, the conditions were peculiar. Great things 
might be at stake. It was no time for a tender consideration of 
the niceties of meum and teum. 

The wetting was of no avail, and I cursed myself for a fool as 
soon as I found this to be the case. When dried the paper was 


We Make the Land 


207 

crinkled, and had a yellowish stain upon it. Its owner might 
guess it had been tampered with, and besides, I might have 
irrevocably ruined its value. 

Disgusted at my thoughtlessness, I folded it, smoothed it, and 
thrust it back into the locket. Then I went below, and finding 
my patient in his accustomed heavy and miserable condition, I 
returned his belongings to him, experiencing no difficulty in 
fastening the piece of jewellery about his neck by means of its 
cord of plaited hair. 

To Corkran I said nothing more at that time. I could see he 
was anxious about my state of health, and I wished, first of all, 
to allay his fears before I put to him this question : 

“ Where did I get a knowledge of such words as Inquas and 
Bossiemans , and what is their meaning ? ” 

He had never mentioned them : of that I felt sure. If they 
had a meaning, if they were Dutch or native words used at the 
Cape, then I would know with absolute certainty that this 
episode, which for a space made me forget our misery, was not 
merely a figment of the imagination. 

As I have said, the breeze struck us, and with it came 
refreshing showers, which dashed joyously aboard us, and 
damped the splitting planks and hardened the melting pitch. 
It grew fresh and cool, and my vitality triumphed over my 
complaint. This was in part due to the finding of half a sack 
of those vegetables from the Americas called in the Indian 
tongue potatoes, which have a remarkable effect upon the scurvy 
poison. Corkran discovered them, and no doubt they had been 
shipped as a private store by Benjy Scudamore, who was a 
bon-vivant , and loved to tickle his palate with strange dishes. 
The Virginian doted on them, but I confess I found them 
insipid, save when salted ; yet they worked a partial cure, and 
that right speedily. Even Jacob, our worst case, benefited. 
And here let me say something to Corkran’s credit. Though 
he delighted in these tubers, yet he forswore his share, even 
giving our blacks a portion. 

“ Mere worldly wisdom,” you say; “a better chance thereby 
of gaining port.” 


2o8 


The Golden Kingdom 

Mayhap, my friends; but, believe me, it was not altogether 
this which made our tough old skipper refrain from this welcome 
dainty, at the sight of which his eyes sparkled like the bauble in 
his beard. 

We recovered in some measure, and so did our Dutchman— 
for Dutchman he was. Further, the knife was his, and bore his 
initials. His name, he told us (for he spoke excellent English), 
was Jan Van Wyk. This, however, was all; he was strangely 
reticent. Neither Jacob nor I could get a word out of him. 
Such a taciturn mortal I had never encountered. He gained 
strength, and he gained flesh. The promise he had given of 
being enormous when in his accustomed health was amply 
fulfilled. Like Jacob’s, his bed was on the floor of our old 
cabin, we having shifted to Barney’s, a larger and better-fitted 
room; but once he began to mend, he was quickly on deck. 

Let it not be thought he was ungrateful. On his first 
regaining consciousness he had thanked us gravely and cour¬ 
teously, stroking his long beard the while, and gazing fixedly 
at us with shrewd, grey eyes. Having said his say, he relapsed 
into silence; and presently there was borne in upon me the fact 
that there was something uncanny about him, a look on his face 
and in his eyes which chilled one, a strange intentness about his 
gaze, a something lurking in his orbs to which I can give no name, 
but which most undoubtedly made itself felt. He smiled once, 
so that I perceived that he had fine, regular, white teeth, and yet 
I shuddered, for no earthly reason that I could see. I began to 
loathe our harmless passenger, and knew not the cause of my 
aversion till one day when he was well enough to sit at our table, 
and Corkran, for the first time, got a fair view of him in a 
good light. 

We ate and drank, and scarcely spoke at all; but when the 
man left us, helped on deck by Jacob—and a mighty pair they 
made—Corkran gulped down the brandy in his glass, and looked 
queerly at me. 

“ What think you of him ? ” he asked. 

“ He repels me,” I answered; “ and yet I know not why it 
should be so.” 


We Make the Land 


209 


“ Shall I tell you ? ” asked the skipper. 

I nodded, and held my breath a moment. 

“The man is a Dutchman, as I supposed,” said Corkran, 
“ and I have no great love for that nation ; but this fellow—poor 
devil that he is—has not so long since-” He paused. 

“ What! ” I cried. 

“You remember what you scratched on the boat’s bottom?” 
was all the answer. 

I remembered and understood, but as I glanced at the thin, 
scored face opposite me, I recalled something else. I recollected 
the night Corkran had come whining to my door, and the weird¬ 
ness of his famished countenance. Horrible as the suspicion was, 
I could not put away from me the idea that then, ay, and now, 
there was faint, but indistinct, as though blurred by time and wiped 
out in part by weather, something in the visage of Corkran the 
Coxswain which had its counterpart in the face of the Dutchman, 
Jan Van Wyk. 

Mark you, I am telling a true tale honestly. I desire to paint 
my comrades as they were, not as they should have been, and 
therefore I have not scrupled to record this incident. It was but 
a suspicion, remember, nor did it ever become anything more. 
Had it done so, I doubt if I could have continued to consort with 
the man from the Americas. 

I put the idea therefore resolutely away from me, banished it 
from the chambers of my brain; though, after all, who is to 
blame a poor human being even if in the direst of extremities he 
outrages our conceptions and shocks our susceptibilities ? 

For the Dutchman I felt pity, mingled with horror and repul¬ 
sion ; but my feelings did me no credit. God knows I had never 
been forced to such straits as he had been if Corkran’s surmise 
was a true one. 

Neither of us spoke for full five minutes, though the captain 
gave a little hoarse chuckle in his throat. The silence became 
irksome, and I changed the tenor of our talk. 

“You believe I have recovered?” I queried. 

“ Right as a trivet, thanks to old Nick.” 

I laughed at his assurance. 


H 


210 


The Golden Kingdom 

“ Let me tell you,” said I, “there was never anything the matter 
with me here,” and I tapped my forehead. 

“ Ay, ay, man, and is that so ? ” he answered drily. 

“ It is,” I replied; “listen, my friend. Knowing you thought 
me a trifle cracked, I have kept to myself certain proofs that such 
was not the case, and have shared them with no one. Now tell 
me, is there in use at the Cape such a word as Bossiemans, which, 
from what I know of Dutch, I take to mean Bushmen.” 

He started visibly, and craned his head towards me. 

“ Stap my vitals ! ” he said; “ but that is queer, my lad. These 
Bushmen be the Abatwa, the Maligryghas of whom I spoke in your 
cottage. The term Bossiemans is a new one, but I have heard it. 
Surely I must have called them so some time or other?” 

“ Nay, the word has never passed your lips. I read it on the 
piece of paper that hangs at the Dutchman’s neck.” 

“ On the paper, but where—where ? ” 

“To the north of Terra de Natal.” 

Corkran sprang out of his seat. 

“ Why! ” he cried, “ that is their country. In the great 
mountain chain are their painted caves and their poison pots.” 

“ Precisely. Again, do you know the expression Inquas ? ” 

“ Inquas ! ” he repeated. “ No, there you have me.” 

“ Still, it is not a word one would coin. That also I saw on the 
chart well-nigh at its centre, and far from the sea.” 

“ Namaqua I know,” he answered; “but their country borders 
the ocean on the west, and they are Khoi-Khoins or Hottentots.” 

I remembered he had used the first of these terms before, and 
reminded him of the fact. 

“True,” said he, “’tis the dirty devils’ name for themselves, 
and means men of men. I allow they are men of women, as we 
all are, but they are mighty poor specimens at that. No, no, my 
cock; ’tis the men of the mines we must seek, the workers in 
precious metal; but split me for a fool ! here is mine own chart, 
which I had clean forgot, so put your finger on the places where 
these words were writ.” 

He produced the paper from his beard trinket, and I showed 
him the spot. 


We Make the Land 


21 i 


“ Look,” said I, “ there is Cortada and Terra Alta just as on 
the other map; and between them was written in Dutch, ‘ Here 
is the golden city of O.S.’ ” 

Corkran had seated himself again ere this, but once more he 
leaped from his seat, and this time he gripped my arm. 

“ Of O.S. ? ” he cried—“ of O.S. ? ” 

“ Why, yes ; I am at a loss to know what it means.” 

“ It means,” said he, speaking in a vague, uncertain fashion, 
“ that there is indeed a God,” and having so said, he grew moody 
and silent, and when I would have questioned him snapped at me 
viciously like an irritable dog. 

“O.S. !” he muttered to himself, rising and striding to and fro 
on his bowed legs; “ O.S. it must be, and yet the thing is scarce 
credible; but I will put it to the test—to the test. He may have 
come by it in some manner fair or foul. O.S., and a red line 
drawn through the river Camissa ! ” 

Presently he drew himself together with an effort, and ceased 
his audible reflections. 

“Doctor Harry,” he said gravely, “ I was a fool to doubt you. 
Still, I fancy no harm is done. You have said nothing of this to 
the Dutchman—he does not know we have the secret ? ” 

“ I have kept my mouth close shut,” I replied, “ and have not 
even told Jacob. To be sure, however, I clapped the paper into 
water to see if that would bring out the writing a second time, and 
Van Wyk may suspect us.” 

“ Tut, tut, but that is bad. Still, it might have been wetted in 
the boat. How the devil is he to know ? ” cried Corkran fiercely. 
“ Mark you, not a word of our intentions; he must never learn 
our designs, and I will find out whether or not he was bound for 
the Cape. If so, well and good; if not, then we are the greatest 
fools in Christendom, or have hold of the end of a very tangled 
skein.” 

“ And with regard to O.S. ? ” I asked. 

“ D-O.S.! ” he shouted in a hoarse whisper, for such a thing 

is possible, though the statement seems absurd ; “ d-O.S.! 

that’s my affair, and I will answer for’t in my proper time.” 

“ Very good,” I rejoined stiffly; “ I have no wish to pry into 



212 


The Golden Kingdom 

your secrets or endure your lack of civility; ” and thus I left him, 
and as I left he laughed, but his laugh was a hollow mockery of 
merriment. 

The plot was thickening; there was more in it than I had sup¬ 
posed. At the very beginning, away back in Bishop-Solingford, 
Nicholas Corkran had told me that the red and wavy line was writ 
in some one’s blood, and for some definite reason, which he had 
kept to himself. What tragedy had we here ? The matter was 
too intricate for me, and I had perforce to wait. “Why not 
compel Corkran to tell?” you ask. “Surely you and Jacob Little 
were more than a match for him, and three men on such a quest 
should have had all things made plain ? ” I grant you it had been 
better, but a quarrel would have ruined all, and, besides this, 
Corkran was a very difficult man to tackle. I have described him 
in vain if it is not apparent that he was an ugly customer. I put 
it to you, would you have tried to coerce such a gentleman of the 
high seas, especially when your future depended on him ? I trow 
not. We had withstood him once over the matter of the slaves, 
and the result had not been encouraging : Benbow and a negro 
dead, the scurvy for a bedfellow, and a mysterious Dutchman for 
a passenger. No ; I was resolved to leave Captain Nicholas alone 
for the future, and let him shape our course as long as we sailed 
in company. But for a dogged desire to see the venture to 
an end, I had backed out of it whenever we reached land. 
Howbeit it was so arranged that we should reach land in a 
peculiar fashion, and that I was to be yet further influenced—ay, 
and strengthened—in my desire to explore the unknown and 
gather treasure. 

I went on deck, and found Jacob alone. Jan Van Wyk had 
gone below, being, as he said, fatigued. I only trusted he had 
not overheard our converse. I warned Jacob against the man, 
but to my dismay found that our good-natured giant had told this 
other giant the very things we desired to conceal from him. 
Thinking in his simplicity that confidence would beget confidence, 
the smith had allowed himself to be sucked dry by the wily 
Dutchman, who had expressed the deepest interest in the smith’s 
tale of his encounter with the huge ape, and had been deeply 


We Make the Land 


213 

impressed by a sight of the monster’s shaggy, leather-like hide. 
Jacob had also hoped, so he told me, to gather information about 
the country, for Van Wyk had admitted that he had visited the 
Cape. It was the latter who had done the garnering. 

The smith was very contrite, though, as I could not enlighten 
him to any extent, he failed to see the reasons for our distrust. 
He assured me the Dutchman was a very pleasant fellow, though 
he spoke little, and he told me that he had concluded a bargain 
with him as to a wrestle between them when both had fully 
regained health and strength. 

“ Do you know, doctor,” he said, “ I believe I have found what 
I sought. He grows bigger every day, and has a fist that would 
fell an ox.” 

At any other time I would have been hugely tickled by this 
arrangement between Samson and Hercules, but at present it 
seemed to me that it was to be a wrestle with wits, and not 
with thews and sinews. Three to one—surely the odds were in 
our favour ! I could not tell, for after all I had nothing to go 
upon—I was groping in the dark; and even Corkran, who knew 
more than I did, was not better informed regarding Van Wyk’s 
present history, even if he were acquainted with his past. We 
could not compel the man to tell us, and he had a quiet way of 
evading our hints and questions. At times I was forced to the 
belief that he had forgotten recent events, that some shock had 
shaken his memory and left a gap in it. Certainly, he would 
often look vague and uncertain, and shake his head dolefully the 
while he stroked his beard. 

Thanks to Jacob, the Dutchman, if he were, indeed, our rival, 
held the trump card for the nonce. There was no use grumbling 
and blaming the smith, and I deemed it wiser not to tell Corkran. 
He and Jacob were none too friendly as it was. Indeed, it was 
the latter’s curious devotion to myself that had carried him thus 
far, ay, and was to carry him farther still, as I hope in time to 
show. All I did tell Captain Nicholas was that our passenger had 
been at the Cape, and this afforded the former the opportunity to 
test the latter. 

“I hear,” said he, the next day when we were all on deck, and 


2 14 


The Golden Kingdom 

before we ran into the fog bank which wrought us such evil—“ I 
hear that you know the Cape, Meinheer Van Wyk.” 

“ Yes,” said he quietly, “ I have been there, kapitein.” 

“ 1 wonder, now, did you ever meet a friend of mine in these parts, 
one Obed Schryner, who was in the service of the company ? ” 

Had I not been watching the Dutchman’s face intently I had 
missed the sudden shifting of his eyes, the fleeting glimpse of 
cunning and suspicion which crept into them for a moment. 

“ Obed Schryner! ” he repeated thoughtfully. “ Obed Schryner! 
Let me see. I have known Schryners—Otho there was, and Piet, 
and a woman called Marijtje ; but Obed, niet! ” and he stroked his 
beard complacently. “ What was he like, this Obed ? ” he asked; 
but Corkran did not answer, for he had caught sight of a dark 
brown belt lying low down upon the sea, and was already on the 
qui vive. 

“ Het komt er niet op aan,” muttered Jan Van Wyk to himself, 
and I, who had taken care to conceal my knowledge of Dutch, 
understood him to mean, “It is no matter.” Perchance, however,' 
it expressed more than was apparent. 

The fog mattered, however, as we found to our cost. It was to 
be expected, for such sea mists are frequent in these latitudes, and 
we knew from Corkran’s reckonings that we were not far from the 
southern extremity of Africa. We plunged into it softly, and it 
wrapped us round, dense, damp, salt, and stealthy. There was a 
breeze within it which merely made it the more confusing, for it 
swirled and eddied round us for two whole days in dark vapour 
masses, clearing but to gather again, drifting dismally over 
the ocean like a dirty smoke, rain-laden, soaking, chill, and 
altogether vile. 

We beat our bell and kept our log astern, so that we knew our 
daily run, but we had no conception of our bearings. The sun’s 
face was hidden, and never an observation could be taken. The 
negroes chattered at the chilliness, and we became again de¬ 
pressed. The nights brought us no relief. No friendly stars 
twinkled for us; there was no moon. Cling, clong ! echoed the 
ship’s bell, and, though we knew it not, it sounded the doom of 
the Kittiwake. 


We Make the Land 


215 


All the time the Dutchman kept to his cabin, eating what we 
sent him, but complaining bitterly of the cold, which, he declared, 
searched to the very marrow of his bones. If so, it had not far to 
penetrate, for he was still gaunt and ill-nourished. 

To my mind his seclusion was suspicious, but we had all 
enough to do without troubling our heads about him. Corkran 
was on tenter-hooks, worried about the vessel, short in the temper, 
and would not discuss Jan Van Wyk with me at all. Jacob’s 
scurvy grew worse, and he suffered from fits of shivering ; 
while even my gums, that I had regarded as healed, showed 
signs of a tendency to bleed. 

Captain Nicholas was too old a salt not to take every pre¬ 
caution against disaster. He had the boat provisioned, and even 
stowed away some money in her locker, for, as he said: 

“’Tis better there out of harm’s way than a means of dragging 
one down to the locker of friend Davy Jones.” 

His words were not inspiriting, though he chuckled as he spoke. 

These were miserable days—a silent sea, a silent fog, a silent 
ship, and a silent company, but everything must have an end. 
The great stretch of ocean mist terminated its sway by being torn 
to shreds by a fierce succession of squalls early on the morning of 
the third day. It was pitch dark, but one could see the white 
caps as they surged up as from a deep abyss; one could feel the 
fury of the gusts, and one could note how the ship heeled 
and hissed as she drove before them, and hearken to her 
canvas rending and lashing about the yards in streamers of 
brine-soaked cloth. 

We were under little sail, for we could not manage any great 
spread, and, besides, Corkran was cautious. Still, we had at first 
too much, and our scuppers were awash ere the wind itself saved 
us by tearing and ripping aloft, blowing canvas clean out of the 
bolt-ropes or rending it like paper. The vessel righted, and, 
standing helplessly on deck, we let her drive, whither we knew 
not. The compass said south, but that scarce aided us. Corkran 
and Corrobee together hung on the tiller, and kept the waves 
from breaching us. The turmoil was terrible, the chaos appall¬ 
ing. What recollections I have of those few hours consist of a 


2l6 


The Golden Kingdom 

sensation of utter blackness, a hissing roar, whip-like cracks, a 
stinging of salt upon the face, a rush of wind in the ears, 
a drunken, swinging toss this way and that, a cracking of spars, a 
thunder of breaking seas, a dozen sousing splutters, a tense strain 
upon the nerves, a fearful anxiety, and then—then, I say, a loud 
and prolonged booming like the noise of cannon. 

“ Breakers ! ” yelled a voice, and there came a wild cry from the 
negro, who was posted as a look-out in the bows. 

I seemed to catch a glimpse of something white and leaping 
far out into the night, and then I saw Corkran bend forward and 
the black strain backwards in a desperate effort. 

The ship seemed to pause in her rush, quivered, hung in the 
wind, and then hurled anyhow, broadside on, stern first, with 
masts severing like pipe-stems, with the sound of rending and of 
splintering, with a sensation as of rolling over and over, and with 
a belief that the world was at an end for us, I found we were in 
a tumult of mighty waters and amongst a wilderness of rocks. 
Shock after shock shook us; solid water walls crashed aboard; we 
were in a froth such as caps a jug of foaming ale. 

Blinded, buffeted, choking, struggling fiercely, clinging to I 
knew what not, I was borne, as it seemed, through the air. 
Lights danced before my eyes, there was a drumming in my 
head, a sharp taste in my mouth. My heels shot upwards, 
my head sank downwards, my body was bent into a hoop. 
Suddenly I straightened out and clutched at something slimy. 
It was sea tangle. Dizzy, sick, and dazed, I clung to it and 
began to crawl. I crawled and better crawled, on and on, 
gasping and drowned by billow after billow. Then, at last, I 
knew no more, and was wakened by a glow upon my face. It 
was the sun’s glare, hot and strong. My back rested on some¬ 
thing firm and solid, for which I thanked God, and from which 
I concluded, though very slowly, that I had at last made the land. 


CHAPTER XIX 


WHAT BEFELL ON ROBBEN ISLAND 

When first my eyes opened I did not comprehend what had 
happened. I imagined that my old mare Nancy had thrown me 
and that I was on the broad of my back on one of our old fen 
roads. Then, as my senses returned, I felt the heat on my face 
and knew that such a sun never poured his rays on pollard 
oaks or homely English hamlet. I was thousands of leagues 
away, that I remembered, but where, where? 

Gradually events pieced themselves together in my dull brain, 
a series of pictures passing before my eyes and crowding together 
to form a little history of the past. The Dutchman first, Corkran, 
the smith, our two surviving blacks, the fog, the squalls, the 
dire catastrophe, and then myself, crawling, bleeding, blinded, 
the sport of cruel sea rollers. 

Was I in a palsy, were my bones broken, was I dying ? Such 
were my hasty questions to myself. I turned carefully on my 
side. To be sure I was bruised and sore, with a raw gash 
across the back of my left hand and a lump on my forehead, 
but beyond these minor injuries I felt sound and whole in body. 
I examined myself all over, sitting up to do so, but detected 
no broken bones or torn ligament. My clothes were already 
half dried and clung closely to me, being, like my hair, sticky 
by reason of the sea-salt. 

With an effort I got upon my legs which shook violently 
under me, and my stomach promptly rebelled, while my head 
swam. I was fain to seek the sand again, but the sickness did 


217 



2 I 8 


The Golden Kingdom 


me good. No doubt I had swallowed some half gallon of strong 
brine, a very efficient emetic even in the case of a starving 
man. 

Our two surviving blacks. The phrase kept repeating itself 
in my mind till the irony of it struck me. Surviving, forsooth ! 
It was a miracle that I yet lived. Was it likely that any other 
had been spared ? Heavens above! was I indeed the sole relic 
of the ship’s company? Corkran had thrice been in such a 
position. Was he now numbered with the dead ? Had the 
sea claimed Jacob Little? Had Meinheer Jan Van Wyk escaped 
one peril to succumb to another? Had the Kittiwake proved 
the tomb of the two negroes ? These were vain thoughts. It 
behoved me to be up and doing, to gauge the full extent of the 
calamity, and with this object in view I again bestirred myself. 
I was fain, however, to keep to my hands and knees and crawl 
thereon by reason of the dizziness of my head. 

In sleepy Bishop-Solingford I had hankered after change 
and excitement. Of a verity both had been doled out to me 
in no scanty measure. I tried to obtain some idea of the land 
on which I had been cast. In front stretched the limitless ocean, 
barren of sail or rock or any kind of life, save a few gulls flapping 
slowly, and now and then screaming harshly or poising and 
diving intent on prey. I was on a beach of fine sand which 
ended in tangle-covered rocks at the sea-margin and behind 
me ran to where the ground sloped upwards and was coated 
with grass and sown with great stones. The elevation was con¬ 
siderable, the stretch extensive, but it barred my view. I could 
see no sign of human habitation. The place looked exceeding 
desolate. Like some animal I painfully dragged my way along 
the beach, and at times uttered a cry, kneeling and hulloaing 
with my hands to my mouth. The gulls, raucous-voiced and 
unconcerned, answered me. A heavy swell, born of the night’s 
wild turmoil, thundered in turbulent foaming masses on the 
iron shore, beating monotonously and helplessly on the grim 
and forbidding foreground. There was a sadness over all, a 
moan from the sea, a melancholy in the cry of the birds, a 
loneliness which gripped me. Still, the sun was bright, the 


What Befell on Robben Island 


219 


waves glittered ere they broke and sparkled after bursting, the 
air was keen and fresh, the glassy slope refreshed the eye, the 
very feel of the firm sand was comforting. I looked for signs 
of the Kittiwake. There was no hulk, no skeleton of timber 
ribs, nothing with coherency, but as I gained the reefs I found 
evidence in plenty of the hapless ship and the power and violence 
of the sea. Planks, shattered spars, a portion of a mast, a 
fragment of the bowsprit warped about with cordage, a hen-coop 
which in Benjy’s time had harboured occupants, a hatch cracked 
across, a stout piece of bulkhead, raw and frayed, the yellow 
grain of it torn and gored by the cruel black fangs which had 
pierced the barque’s bottom and had held her for the billows to 
wreak their spite upon her. I saw all these things and then 
I saw a man’s head. For a moment I thought that the round 
black thing cropping up above a rock shaggy with the sea- 
wrack was the head of some seal basking on the shore, but 
presently, drawing a little nearer to it, I perceived it was the 
back of a human skull, the frizzed poll of a negro. I shouted, 
and the head turned and looked at me. Then indeed there 
could no longer be any doubt. A line of white showed in the 
face, a hand and lean arm shot upwards in welcome, and 
Corrobee, for it was no other, answered my cry. Still he did 
not stir. I was surprised he did not come scrambling towards 
me with all the eager excitement of his race. As it was I made 
for him as rapidly as I could, and at last reached the huge 
boulder which hid the rest of his body. 

To this day I remember that clamber chiefly by the smell 
which filled my nostrils, the strong odour of damp wrack, the 
scent of shell-fish, of salt water turning warm in the sun, of 
green ribands of weeds, spreading like slime over the surfaces 
of pools or bunched half-dry and sand-crusted in the yellow 
spaces betwixt the stones and pebbles. 

There is no keener sense than that of smell, no greater aid 
to memory, and yet we scarcely recognise its power. It seems 
to me as though I recall well-nigh every place in which I have 
sojourned by its effect upon those nerves we term the olfactory. 
This is no learned treatise, however, but an honest tale of travel 


220 


The Golden Kingdom 

and of peril, so let me recount what I found when I reached 
the negro. 

I discovered why he had not stirred. One of his ankles was 
bruised and swollen, having been severely wrenched; while 
one leg was fast wedged between the rock and the side of that 
very boat in which the Dutchman had drifted to the Kittiwake. 
Nor was this all. In the bottom of the little craft, lying beneath 
the thwarts, half-in, half-out of a dirty mess of sand and powdered 
shells and salt water was the body of my good friend, Jacob 
Little. He was on his back, his face pale, his eyes closed, 
a great cut seaming his temple, his white hair matted with blood 
which had dried into a black crust, but even thus one hand 
firmly clenched the haft of his sledge hammer from which even 
death itself had not been able to part him. 

At the sight I uttered an exclamation of grief and dismay, 
but Corrobee shook his head, and chiefly by signs gave me 
to understand that the smith still lived. My first care was to 
satisfy myself that this was the case, and to my joy I found that 
Jacob had not yet slipped his cable, as Corkran would have said. 
He was in a swoon, partly by reason of the blow on his skull 
and partly, no doubt, from loss of blood. A man stricken by 
scurvy, as I have shown, is at all times liable to bleed, and 
after the bufifetings he had experienced Jacob was a mass of 
bruises and extravasations. The gash had also bled freely, 
and the man, for all his strength, was weak and helpless as a 
babe. Here was a pretty dilemma. The boat rested on a thick 
bed of weed in a narrow gap amongst fringed boulders, and was 
well below the full-tide mark. The hungry sea was creeping 
shorewards, swallowing up more and more of the beach with 
each successive roller, the negro was imprisoned, the smith 
unconscious, and myself so miserable a wreck that I could do 
nothing to aid either of them. I tried and failed. At first it 
seemed easy. I tore away the wrack from the boulder, hoping 
to free Corrobee’s limb, but soon discovered that his leg was not 
merely jammed between it and the boat’s gunwale; his foot 
was wedged into a cranny in the rock away beneath the boat’s 
bilge at a place where I could not reach it. Further, the least 


What Befell on Robben Island 


221 


exertion sickened me till I was fain to desist. But the in¬ 
coming tide would not desist from its ceaseless advance. 
Nearer and nearer it crept, like some stealthy beast of prey. 
The sight of it made me desperate. I wrought in an agony, 
but to no avail. The full horror and irony of the situation 
swept in upon me. Here were these two, the one a friend 
and comrade, the other a very faithful servant, saved in some 
miraculous manner from the perils of shipwreck and of tempest, 
and were they now to be the victims of the hungry maw of 
the sea, calm and relentless, of the common everyday tide 
from which a child could have run and which to me was 
harmless ? I fell upon my knees and prayed. Heaven knows 
what words I uttered. The sun had stood still at the bidding 
of Joshua. Was not the sea in the hollow of the Lord’s hand ? 
I prayed, and then fixed my eyes on the snowy line of surf. 
Inch by inch, foot by foot, it advanced. The black and 
glistening summits of rocks vanished, bright sand stretches 
disappeared. With each boom and splash the froth and spume 
surged and slithered closer to us. I stared at these eager, 
white, out-stretched tongues of broken water as though fascin¬ 
ated, and found myself gabbling, “ Great God ! great God! ” 
after the manner of an idiot. 

All this time it had never occurred to me to try to drag Jacob 
farther up the beach. Such folly is scarce credible, but it is the 
truth. I stooped and grasped him beneath the armpits; I en¬ 
deavoured to lift him towards the bows. I might have succeeded 
had there been nothing to do but pull him onwards and haul him 
over the boat’s gunwale, for in my anxiety and distress I forgot 
my sickness, and fear put strength into me. But this was not all, 
my task was none so simple. Jacob Little was no ordinary man, 
and he filled the boat’s bottom, so that when I began to drag 
upon him I found that he also was a prisoner pinned fast between 
the planking and one of the thwarts. The cross seat had been 
broken and driven downwards, so that one end of it was fixed 
firmly against the side of the boat and pressed upon the man’s 
body. The negro bent and strove to help me, but he could not 
reach the place, even though he strained till the exquisite pain 


222 


The Golden Kingdom 


which he endured forced a groan from him. I tugged fiercely at 
the piece of wood in vain. I had no knife, no saw, no hatchet. 
Then I remembered the hammer. With difficulty I freed it from 
Jacob’s grasp, and stood up, dripping with sweat, panting with 
exertion. But when I attempted to wield it I found I was un¬ 
equal to the effort. My blows on the edge of the thwart were as 
feeble as the tappings of a woodpecker. It was useless, and I 
knew it. Again I prayed, but even as my brain strung unvoiced 
words together I called to mind the old story of King Canute and 
his courtiers. Was it likely, I asked myself, that the course of 
nature would be altered at my petition ? What were the lives of 
two men and one a negro to the inexorable progress of Nature’s 
workings ? I perceived we were puppets, the sport of time and 
circumstance, and I ceased praying, and, like a blasphemous fool, 
I cursed my Maker. 

Corrobee, meanwhile, had begun to struggle violently. I ex¬ 
pected every moment to hear the bones of his leg snap asunder, 
but even were they to fracture that would not aid us. He might, 
indeed, be able to stoop sufficiently, but no man with a broken 
leg, with bone-ends jarring one against the other, or thrusting 
through the skin, could hope to exercise his strength. Pain may 
not wholly master, but it must ever cripple to some extent. 
Another thought struck me, and I used the hammer handle as a 
lever, but with no better success. I could neither free Corrobee 
nor Jacob by such means. Then, realising that I was indeed 
foiled, that these two must perish miserably, I think I went mad. 

I stood and raved again, and shook my fist at the mocking sea; 
I resolved to drown along with them. The negro abandoned his 
efforts, and grew sullen and silent. I was surprised at his forti¬ 
tude. He neither whimpered nor wept, but stared fixedly at the 
lapping line of froth and bubbles. A gull screamed, and, with 
open beak, seemed to chuckle harshly. I cursed it, but suddenly 
as the danger grew nearer, a selfish thought crept into my mind. 
Why should I trouble ? I was safe, I could mock the breakers 
as the gull mocked the imprisoned men. The smith would 
never know, he would be choked in his sleep, slip silently from 
a cruel world, and as for Corrobee, he was a black heathen, 


What Befell on Robben Island 223 

who could have but little interest in life, being without learning 
or ambition. 

Yes, I confess such were my evil imaginings; but a feeling of 
revulsion came upon me, I called myself coward, and traitor, and 
callous brute, and then, as a last chance, I resolved to seek help. 

Explaining my purpose to the negro, for I could not have him 
think that I deserted them, I scrambled as hastily as possible to 
the firm sand in which the rocks ended. Which way was I to 
turn? The direction I took might mean everything. On one 
side was a long stretch, curving at last as the land turned at an 
angle to itself; on the other, a ridge of rock, a miniature cliff, 
shut out my view, for it stretched right from the sea to the 
pasture-land. Behind, as I have said, rose a slope, rock-sown, 
grass-covered, and desolate. 

I resolved to turn to the left, and straightway made for the 
cliff. Excitement conquered sickness, but my head throbbed, 
and in parts where the sand was powdery and soft my legs 
wobbled at the knees like those of an old grandfather. Still on I 
ran, gulping at the throat, breathing heavily, but buoyed up by a 
slender hope. There might be fellow-men on the other side of 
the ridge of bluish rock. The gull flew in a line parallel with me, 
and cried raucously at intervals. It was like a persistent evil spirit. 

At last I reached the place, and leaned heavily for a moment 
against the hot stone, though my eyes sought some spot where I 
could mount to the summit of this boundary. I looked, and saw 
none. The surface of the rock wall was singularly smooth. Was 
it possible that I would have to traverse its whole length, and go 
round it where it sprang from the face of the hill. “ No, no,” I 
cried to myself; “ surely not, surely not! ” and I flung myself at 
its face and strove to ascend as some stricken fly strives to crawl 
up a window pane. Like the insect, I could gain no firm hold, 
and fell downwards on my back. The minutes were speeding, 
the sea was winning this race. It was useless to think of passing 
the ocean end of the barrier, for against it the waves were beating 
and bursting. The gull flapped beyond it, and out of sight, 
screaming harshly and repeatedly, as though in merriment, as 
though it enjoyed its triumph and my discomfiture. 


224 The Golden Kingdom 

Cursing, I set my face towards the land, and began to run 
along the side of the low cliff, and as I ran, cursing, I was answered 
by the curses of a man upon its farther side. For a moment I 
believed my ears deceived me, that at the most I heard an echo 
of my own breathless utterances. I stopped and listened, but 
was speedily assured. I was master of no such vocabulary. 
There could be no doubt that the words proceeded from some 
other throat than mine, and, what is more, there could be no 
doubt of the man, or, at least, of his voice. It was that of Corkran 
the Coxswain. Upon occasion, as I have said, his language could 
be remarkable, and this occasion, I perceived, must be indeed 
something very especial. There was no break in his sentences. 
They poured forth in a continuous stream. The strangest gabble 
of the oaths of all countries was being spat forth with a vehemence 
and viciousness alike peculiar and refreshing. To tell the truth, I 
felt grateful. They expressed my own feelings in a way utterly 
beyond me. This was my first thought, but it passed at once, 
and I resolved, when I had opportunity, to take myself to task for 
permitting myself to harbour such an idea at such a moment. 
Were not my prayers answered? Had I not been guided aright? 
Should I not rather be full of wonder and thankfulness? No 
doubt, only there was not time for these considerations. 

“ Corkran ! ” I shouted; “ Corkran 1 ” 

The wrathful babbling ceased. 

“ Ahoy! ” came the hail. “ Split me ! an’ I do not hear Doctor 
Harry ! ” 

“Yes, yes,” I cried. “ But make haste and come over to this 
side. It is a matter of life and death.” 

“ Ecod ! ” said he. “ I thought the former had no longer any 
interest for you and the rest. How comes it you got ashore ? ” 

The last sentence came from above. I stepped back, and there 
was the old sea-dog on the top of the rock wall. He was a 
strange sight. A red neckerchief passed over his wig, and was 
fastened beneath his chin; his hair was all bunched together 
and sprinkled over with sand, and at least half his beard was 
gone, and with it the bauble. 

His chin was raw, the knot fastening the kerchief was wet, his 


What Befell on Robben Island 


225 

shirt, for he had no coat, was stained with blood. Otherwise, he 
did not appear to have suffered, for he displayed considerable 
agility in swinging himself downwards. Fearful we would be too 
late, and in my haste scarce recognising the importance of what 
had happened to him, I did not wait, but plodded off across the 
sand, waving a hand behind me by way of summons. He was 
speedily at my side, but, perceiving I was in dire distress, did not 
utter a word. 

I noticed he was bare-footed, but otherwise remain unconscious 
of that run, of that contest with the tide. 

We were in time, but only just in time. Already the negro’s 
face was damp with spray, already the sea was bubbling through 
the weed bunches on which lay the boat. A few yards away the 
curving water-walls were rounding their smooth, streaked backs, 
and their foaming crests were plunging downwards and dashing 
themselves into a mere broken jabble, which surged onwards, and 
capped the pools with a creamy froth, or went hissing backwards, 
foiled for the nonce. 

I was past speaking when I reached the place, but there was 
no need for speech. Captain Nicholas took in the whole 
situation at a glance, but evinced precious little concern for the 
lives at stake. 

“Heaven send the boat is sound,” said he, and I verily believe 
his chief object in freeing Jacob Little was to get a sight of the 
craft’s under-planking, and see what damage she had sustained. 
He speedily, however, made me realise what a fool I had been. 
No thought of the locker in the stern sheets had occurred to me. 
The first thing Corkran did was to force it open. Within were 
the very tools required, stored there in part by himself and in part 
by those concerning whom Jan Van Wyk, had he chosen, could 
no doubt have told a tale. 

“ Y’are a fine surgeon, Doctor Harry,” said Corkran to me, as 
he set to work upon the thwart; and I could do nothing but sit 
disconsolately like a shamefaced boy taken to task for want of 
common sense. 

He was not long in sawing the wood asunder, and then, having 
got back my breath, I was able to help him. Together we carried 

15 


226 


The Golden Kingdom 

the smith a little farther up the shore, and then returned, Corkran 
intent on saving the boat, while my thoughts were rather with the 
negro. 

I had several lessons that morning which I laid to heart. Apart 
from the matter of the locker, I noted that Corkran was careful 
to assure himself as to the trend of the shore. He was too 
cunning a water-dog to let himself be cut off by the tide. For¬ 
tunately there was no risk in that direction, and we stood by the 
boat. She had two planks stove in, but Corkran did not despair 
of securing her. As the sea swept in about us we managed to 
slew her round, and so to get at the cranny in which the black’s 
foot was fast. 

At first it seemed to me that in order to save his life I would 
have to put the carpenter’s tools to a new use. Already the 
water was halfway to his knees, and it was only by feeling with 
our hands that we were able to realise poor Corrobee’s plight. 
His foot was twisted and gripped firmly at the ankle bones, and 
he must have suffered intense agony. The accident was most 
peculiar, but it appears to me that it is the peculiar that happens 
in foreign parts. I was past surprise, and took all things as a 
matter of course. Such adventurings as I have undergone con¬ 
stitute, I take it, the proper training for would-be philosophers. 
They are of more value than all the teachings of sects and 
creeds. Certainly my good wife affirms that I am very placid in 
temper, and do not worry over trifles, as is the way with most men. 

My apprenticeship, therefore, has done me good; but I am 
free to confess it was of the roughest, and one I scarcely recom¬ 
mend to all and sundry. I fancy that if many young sparks 
were to emulate me, but few of them would ever live to be hus¬ 
bands, and be held up by their spouses as patterns and models. 
It is not given to every one to have the nine lives of a cat. 

Fortunately I had not to proceed to extremities in the case of 
Corrobee, for, by prising at the rock with pieces of wood and 
working very gently, we succeeded in releasing him, though at 
some expense of skin, and not till we were again soaked through 
and through. As there must have been room for the foot to 
enter the cranny, it is reasonable to suppose that the subsequent 


What Befell on Robben Island 227 

swelling had been the cause of its fixation. However that may 
be, the negro, like Mephibosheth in Holy Writ, was impotent in 
both feet, and, like Jacob, he had to be conveyed to dry land. 

Eventually we got them placed side by side on the warm sand 
well above high-tide mark, and then we did our best to save the 
craft which had been their salvation and was like to have been 
the tomb of one of them at least. 

The beach shoaled rather speedily, and thus we found a fair 
depth of broken water in advance of those crashing billows, 
which would soon have broken the boat to splinters. Corkran 
was a wonder He fairly revelled in these salvage operations. 
His energy and resource were alike remarkable—ay, and the 
strength with which he withstood the eager rush of the tide and 
its strong sucking backdraw. I laboured up to my waist, while 
he was submerged well-nigh to his shoulders. The boat was 
light, and the sea itself aided us. Splashing, tripping, spitting, 
gasping, winking the brine out of our eyes, bruised, cut, and 
half-drowned, we yet succeeded in at last dragging and floating 
our craft over the rocks and reefs to the sand belt. For a whole 
hour we wrestled in the water, but finally we had her safe from 
the line of violent surf, and could afford to rest. Excitement had 
buoyed me up, but as soon as there was no more to be done I 
tottered to where Corrobee sat dismally and Jacob lay uncon¬ 
scious, and, flinging myself down—wet, weak, hungry, and ill—I 
slept the sleep of utter exhaustion. 

When next I wakened I found that many hours had sped. 
The eventful day had gone, and following it the night in which 
it had ended. 

It was the morning of another day, the sun once more hot 
and high, the sand warm, the sea a great level stretch, with 
scarce a movement of its bosom save where a lazy heave struck 
the shelving shore. Further, I found that I was stark naked and 
up to my neck in sand, that I was as hungry as Jack shark—ay, 
and so thirsty that I felt as though I could have drained the 
ocean itself, provided it had been fresh. 

The little sand-lice leaping on my face had brought me to my 
senses, and I quickly perceived, after I had struggled into a sitting 


228 


The Golden Kingdom 

posture, that other changes had taken place. Like me, Jacob 
was buried to his neck; Corrobee’s ankles were bound about with 
bandages; a fire of sticks and driftwood was smoking a little way 
off, and before it squatted Corkran, busy cooking some kind of 
meat. He had removed the neckerchief which bound his wig, 
and looked more like himself. 

As soon as he perceived that I had returned to life he hailed 
me cheerily. 

“ Away with you for a brine bath ! ” he shouted. “ There lie 
your clothes as dry as the sun can bake them. By the time you 
are dressed I warrant I will have something to set your mouth 
a-watering.” 

“ Water is what I need,” I answered huskily, thrusting out my 
stiff and parched tongue. 

“ And that’s a want easily supplied,” quoth Nicholas, and 
presently brought me a wooden vessel—a calabash, as he called 
it—filled with the most grateful of drinks, the aqua fontana of 
the ancients. I learned he had obtained it from a spring at 
some distance, and I gulped it down, washed out my mouth with 
it, damped my salt and crusted lips, and felt mightily revived. 
He helped me to my feet. 

“Art strong enough for a bath, my lad?” he queried. 

“ Yes, yes,” I was bold enough to declare, and managed to 
reach the rock, where I was content to sit in a pool, despite the 
smartings of some dozen half-healed cuts and scratches. Still 
more refreshed, I returned and got me into my shrunken garments. 

I would not eat till I had examined Jacob Little. He was still 
senseless, but his eye winked a little at the finger touch, and he 
stirred uneasily when one pinched his skin. His head was bound 
up very skilfully, and satisfied that he had made progress towards 
recovery, I addressed myself to my first meal on land since we 
had quitted the country of the great apes. 

It was some kind of rabbit that Corkran had been cooking, 
and its flesh seemed to me most succulent and savoury, though 
my portion was half raw and smoked on one side. As I ate I 
let old Nicholas talk, and soon discovered we were in no such 
evil case. It appeared we had been cast ashore on Robben 


What Befell on Robben Island 


229 

Island, so named after the seals that frequent its shores, and 
which is situate some ten or more sea miles from the Cape itself 
at the very entrance of Table Bay. 

Corkran knew the spot, and explained that we were on the 
ocean side of the island, hence my inability to see the mainland, 
which was plainly visible from farther round the coast and from 
the summit of the slope behind us. This was indeed heartening 
news, but Corkran was full of grumbles at the loss of the 
Kittiwake. 

“Zounds!” said he, “to think o’ the old Bird o' Paradise 
playing us such a trick ! She should have known better, for many 
a time she’s done the run from Madagascar to the west. ’Tis 
most cursed luck.” 

“ We do wrong to repine,” I answered. “ Consider how we 
have been mercifully spared as by a miracle. Think of the 
Dutchman and the other negro ! ” 

“ The Dutchman,” snarled Corkran ; and, looking at him, I 
again noted the state of his beard and the absence of the bauble. 

Indeed, his hand sought the raw patch on his chin, and I saw 
that the skin of his neck was torn open at the spot where the 
chain loop had pierced it. I had clean forgotten his loss, but 
now my interest was excited. 

“ Do you tell me,” said I, “ that Jan Van Wyk has anything to 
do with-” 

I nodded towards him, there was no need to be more explicit. 

“ Anything ! ” he cried; “ ay, ay, everything, the swine ! let 
me but get within pistol range of his hide, and I’ll teach him to 
rob a senseless man ! ” 

“ But are you certain he was to blame ? Is it not conceivable 
that in the struggle ashore it was torn from you by a floating spar, 
a sharp point of rock, or-” 

“ Body o’ me! ” he cried, “ y’are as full of hypotheses as I 
would I were of rum. Bethink you, now, Doctor Harry, can you 
imagine no way in which I proved the matter to my satisfaction. 
Observe, I was swept round yonder, and driven free of rocks far 
up on the sands by a merciful Providence, I will allow, who there¬ 
after permitted a sneaking dog of a Dutchman to play the thief 




230 


The Golden Kingdom 

on me. A pretty way it was to serve a man, to wrench half his 
beard away and tear his neck open. Had I not been as still as 
a log, to all intent stiff and cold, I vow he had not ventured to 
use me so roughly. Let it pass, let it pass, I will yet be even 
with him or I am never old Nick Corkran, but rack your brains, 
my worthy surgeon, and tell me how I found out on waking ? ” 

“You saw the man himself,” I hazarded. 

“ Devil a sign ! my cock. I’ve chased all over this confounded 
isle, and not so much as seen his shirt-tails. There used to be 
folk here, a Hottentot woman and her people, and at times some 
of the burghers from the Cape after seals and penguins or to 
keep an eye on the sheep, or knock a few conies on the head; but 
though the huts are standing, for it was in one of them I got the 
calabash, there’s not a soul to the fore.” 

“ Then he left something behind him.” 

“ Ecod, now! he left his mark on me; is that what you mean ? ” 

“ Nay, but some trifle or other, a kerchief, or-” 

“ A kerchief! for me to staunch my bleeding, I presume, or, 
mayhap, a bottle o’ strong scents to aid my recovery, or a small 
keg o’ Cognac to cheer my spirits. A pretty diagnosis, Doctor 
Harry; but come, I will show you, for the tide is out, and we 
can round the rock ridge.” 

I rose and followed him, a trifle annoyed at his crustiness and 
clumsy sarcasm, and so we walked in silence to the other side of 
the low cliff which had foiled me on the preceding day. Leaving 
the rocks and pools, we turned inland and gained the sand. 
Presently, far up the beach, Corkran stopped, and pointed down¬ 
wards with his finger. 

In the entertaining history of one Robinson, written by Mr. 
Defoe, a handsome copy of which, with several woodcuts, has 
recently been sent me by the vicar as a Christmas gift, we read 
of the manner in which the castaway discovered that he was not 
alone upon the island of his exile. In the same way Corkran 
convinced me that the Dutchman, Jan Van Wyk, had not 
perished in the wreck, for, leading upwards towards the loose 
sand and the grassy ground were the huge footmarks of a huge, 
barefooted man. 



CHAPTER XX 


THE CHALLENGE 

Now I do not propose to exhaust the patience of the reader, if 
such there be, with any lengthy description of our brief sojourn 
on Robben Island. I am all for action, for describing several 
surprising events which befell us in the immediate future, and, 
consequently, I will be brief. 

Let me say, then, that I could not discover the reason of 
Corkran’s wrath at the loss of his trinket. He heartily damned the 
Dutchman, and was much perturbed but, though I pressed him to 
give me his confidence, he would not open his lips on the subject. 

“ Look you,” he said at length, “ when we are come to Terra 
de Natal I will tell you the whole tale; ay, as to Obed Schryner 
and the bloodmark on the paper, and the meaning of the bauble. 
I like you, my lad, and I trust you; so you must even trust me, 
but if you do not, and continue to weary me with questions, then, 
hang me ! but we part company.” 

Being doubly interested in all this mystery, and more than ever 
intent upon the quest, I wisely held my tongue and accompanied 
him in an exploration of the island, which really meant a search 
for Jan Van Wyk. I recognised one benefit resulting from the 
theft, it went to prove that I had been right, and Corkran 
wrong. The Dutchman must have been on his way to the Cape, 
and not homeward bound, and the words uttered in his delirium 
had signified chagrin and despair at a purpose foiled. Corkran 
agreed with me on this point, and was somewhat comforted by 
the reflection. 

931 


232 The Golden Kingdom 

We went on the quest armed with a handspike and a heavy 
spar, and perhaps it was as well we did not encounter the object 
of our search. 

The place has been often and well described, suffice it, then, 
to say that from its rocky summit I viewed for the third time the 
mainland of Africa. But now it was on the southern extremity 
I gazed, on a great sweep of bluish shore-line, on low, bare 
stretches, on hill ranges, on a bold promontory to the south, and, 
above all, on that superb mountain, flat-topped, cloud-capped, 
massive, buttressed, and majestic, which guards the settlement of 
the Dutch, and forms a vast barrier to the northward. I was to 
learn to know it better, to explore its wooded kloofs, to reside 
within its shadow, to see it clear-cut, black and frowning in the 
sunshine, purple and mysterious under the moon’s rays, wrapped 
in mists and vapours; but still I do not forget it as I first saw it, 
miles away across the sea, hazy of outline, its summit shrouded, 
its bold features softened by distance and the ocean light, but for 
all that the enormous sentinel of this vast southern land. I call 
to mind a tall ship making the Bay, the cry of sea-birds, the 
freshness of the salt air, and a great feeling of freedom and vigour 
somehow surged through me. The very immensity of the 
prospect, the thought that I gazed at an unknown continent, 
which reached unbroken for thousands of leagues into other 
climes and other latitudes, lifted me above the pettiness of my 
own immediate affairs. My ideas broadened, and I braced 
myself against the breeze and laughed, once more a stout, well- 
fed man, ready to grapple with the future. 

At the very beginning we were baffled; we could find no trace 
of Jan Van Wyk. For the nonce I was unable to explain his 
disappearance. It might be, I argued, that he had found a boat 
and made for the coast, or that he was concealed in some of the 
fissures and crevices of the rocks on the western side of the isle. 
Though it is but a mile in length, it contains plenty of hiding- 
places, and our search could not be thorough. Certain it is that 
the Dutchman and his booty escaped us—a fact of more import¬ 
ance than I then perceived. 

Corkran and I compared our experiences on the morning of 


The Challenge 233 

the disaster, and found them very similar, save that he had 
altogether escaped the rocks, and even the pebbly foreshore. 

“ By Daddy Neptune ! ” said he, “it seems to me I was born 
to be hanged, for I can no more drown than a cork ! Faith ! but 
I got a crack on the pate with a piece of timber which well-nigh 
stove me in. Did you not once say I was spared to be of use ? 
It was true, my lad, and the same thing has again happened, for, 
otherwise, how could you have patched up the Dutchman’s boat, 
as I am going to do ? ” 

“Yes, or for that matter, freed the others?” 

“ Ho, ho! ” he chuckled, for he was beginning to regain his 
wonted spirits. “ There I had you on the hip ; but do you search 
the beach for wreckage, the while I get these two planks put ship¬ 
shape. We will make the Cape in our own craft, and not bide 
here to be picked up like beggars.” 

It was typical of the man’s independence. I have never 
met any one who equalled him in that particular, but he oft 
swore that it was a common trait in Virginia, where they bred 
men who were neither moles, book-worms, courtiers, sycophants, 
nor popinjays. Certainly if they breed many of his stamp, I 
am free to confess it must be a very turbulent colony, and like 
to cause England and the rest of the world considerable trouble 
one of these days. 

Jacob so far recovered as to become conscious, but he remained 
dazed and much pained by the light in his eyes. The negro, 
however, mended apace, rubbing his ankles with the fat from the 
rabbit, and was able to help Corkran in his work. 

My search was not crowned with much success. True, I found 
plenty of relics, but nothing of value, save a cask of wine and 
a small tub of salted junk, the which was scarce a prize considering 
we had mutton for the killing and conies in abundance. I am 
wrong, there was something else, for I have been merely con¬ 
sidering stomach comforts, whereas I found one of the jib sails 
wrapped round the fragment of the bowsprit. This pleased 
Corkran most of all, for the oars had been washed out of the boat 
before she rode to shore on a wave crest, half swamped and with 
gunwales awash, and it would have been a weary business reaching 


234 The Golden Kingdom 

the mainland with such make-shifts of paddles as we were able to 
invent. 

All day we laboured, and spent another night on the shore, 
rigging up the canvas as a shelter, for the dews were heavy. The 
following morning broke calm and clear, the sea merely rippling 
under the breath of a light breeze. With great difficulty we got 
the boat launched on the out-going tide at a place where there was 
a natural sandy channel twisting and turning amongst the rocks. 
Fortunately she was a light craft, and Corrobee, shuffling on his 
knees, was able to assist us in moving her by pushing vigorously. 

Jacob had regained his wits, and his head was healing, the only 
marked symptom of his injury being an irritability of temper, all 
the more conspicuous from the fact that he was, as a rule, so placid 
and content. 

The wine was spoiled and brackish, so we spilled it, and filled 
the cask at the spring. Then, getting the smith aboard, and 
stepping a small mast which Corkran had devised, and indeed he 
was most ingenious at such carpenter’s work, we hoisted our rag 
of a sail, and, with a rude oar as a helm, fared forth into the deep. 
Having stored a sufficiency of heavy stones aboard by way of 
ballast, the little craft, when trimmed, sailed none so badly, and 
was tight as a corked bottle for the greater part of her journey. 
Thereafter she began to leak, but I used the calabash as a baling 
dish, and kept her comparatively free. 

The island slowly receded, its features grew blurred and indistinct, 
and as the boat heeled and bubbled and cleft her way like a live 
thing, the Bay opened out before.us, and behold ! there were three 
or four vessels lying at their anchorage. On we sped, and we 
perceived that two, at least, were Indiamen, low in the waist, 
prodigiously high in the poop, with bowsprits cocked to the 
heavens, and double tiers of guns. Their tall masts with clumsy 
tops shot up against the background formed by that vast rampart 
which I have but poorly described, and they sat squat and square 
on the calm sea like broad-sterned ducks upon a pond. Ships of 
the great Netherlands company, beyond a doubt, fresh from 
Europe, or touching at the Cape in the long home run from 
Java or Batavia or Calicut. 


The Challenge 235 

As we neared them Corkran made the negro take the steering 
oar, and then did a queer thing, but one wholly characteristic. 
He had a fixed idea that England, and not Holland, should be the 
greatest sea power. He acknowledged the Dutch were fine seamen, 
and compared them favourably with French, Spanish, and Portu¬ 
guese, but for that very reason he was jealous of them, and swore 
by Blake and earlier mariners of the ocean isle. So now what 
does he do but whip out a flag he had contrived to fashion from 
his red neckerchief and the tails of his shirt. “ Split me, Doctor 
Harry,” said he, but we must hoist our colours, though we have no 
gun wherewith to salute them ! Are these baggy breeches to 
think they are cocks of the sea walk? No, no, my lad, up she 
goes! ” 

With that he ran his precious bit of bunting up to the mast¬ 
head, a very fair red cross of St. George, which streamed out 
bravely and which he eyed lovingly with one optic shut, and his 
withered mahogany visage screwed up and full of pride and vain¬ 
glory. I was hugely tickled. Here were we flaunting this bravery, 
and yet a sorrier set of mortals it would have been hard to find. 
The old tarpaulin, his chin half raw, was in his shirt, with his 
sleeves rolled up, and he wore a pair of Benjy’s fine-coloured tights, 
which were sadly stained and torn, while he was barefooted and 
bareheaded, his mop of a wig forming sufficient protection from 
the sun. Jacob, in his rough clothes, lay in the stern sheets, with 
his head bound up, and his face very pale and bloodless. The 
negro, lean and haggard, handled the oar, and his feet and legs 
were swathed about with dirty rags. I knew my clothes had 
shrunk till they were very far from fitting me, and I had a lump 
on my forehead that I fancied must be turning greenish-yellow in 
hue, while I had constructed a headpiece of wood and canvas, the 
which I kept damp, and which must have given me a most 
peculiar aspect. Verily, we were a villainous-looking company; 
but we were sun-browned, bearded, and, despite the scurvy, must 
have appeared a hardy set of voyagers. After all, there is nothing 
like a life in the open air for the filling out of chests, the hardening 
of muscles, the quickening of sight, ay, and for teaching readiness 
and resource. We were yet to have need of our training or ever 


236 The Golden Kingdom 

we gained the great swamp, or clapped eyes on the walls of the 
golden city. 

Merrily we ran, and as we slipped past the Indiamen their crews 
gathered at the sides to gaze at us, and even gave us a cheer, 
a friendly greeting, both well-timed and heartsome. 

“ Ho, ho ! ” said Corkran, “ this is none so bad. Our Jans and 
Piets seem to have forgot we are a few stray hairs of the dog that 
bit them.” 

“ If I remember rightly the biting was not all on one side,” 
I answered,” for it is well to be fair-minded, and pay due honour 
to a stout foe. 

“ You may say so,” growled Corkran ; “ who else among seafolk 
ever furled the tops’ls o’ war-ships in the Thames ? Still, we served 
them their own sauce hot, my lad, and I, for one, bear them no 
grudge, though, Lord love you ! they make a poor show of a 
colony.” 

I was soon to test the truth or otherwise of his statement, for 
already we could discern houses on shore nestling at the foot of 
the mountain, and make out a building larger than the others, 
which Nicholas told me was the castle of five bastions. 

“ Yonder,” said he, “ is what they call the lion’s head, and there 
is Devil’s peak, whence blow the most blustering of sou’-easters. 
Look at the gorges, the kloofs, in the mountain’s flank. I mind 
when these were full of great trees, but they have thinned the 
forests with a vengeance. Ecod ! but the place hath grown since 
I quitted it. I hear that many French and Walloons have settled 
with the Dutch. The French are Huguenots, and will make 
things hum, for they are a clever folk, and have not brains which 
move like canals.” 

He sat and stared at the prospect, which was indeed entrancing 
and magnificent. 

“ I wonder, now,” he continued, “ if they have killed off the sea- 
cows in the swamp, and if there is an elephant this side of the 
sandy neck? In my time the antelopes played the mischief with 
the gardens in the very town itself, coming in troops and droves 
in the night-time, and being bolder than the lions and the leopards 
which haunt the slopes.” 


The Challenge 237 

He spoke calmly, as a matter of course, but I confess he set my 
blood a-dancing. To me all this was wonderful. The thought of 
seeing these wild animals, and perhaps having to do battle with 
them, filled me with the greatest interest in the place, and I was 
the first ashore when we had run into the mouth of the Fresh 
River and lowered our sail. 

Now it is not my business to describe, like some historian or 
geographer, the features of the Cape, its inhabitants, both white 
and black, its town and castle, its reservoir and mill, the gardens 
of the governor, the Javanese horses and other domesticated 
animals, the wild beasts of the kloofs and savannahs, the fish 
which may be caught in its seas, its comforts and discomforts, and 
a multitude of other matters. Are there not for those who read 
the Dutch, the book published by Hondius of Amsterdam, the 
work of Neiuhof, the verses of Van Overbeke, the volume of 
Dapper, which he had never written but for Wreede, ay, and a host 
of others of good or ill repute ? In the French we have Father 
Tachard’s labours, which I confess I do not know, and in mine 
own tongue has not William Dampier made publicity of his 
voyages, and had them rendered into the Dutch ? Further, from 
my old friend the vicar I but recently received a treatise from one 
Ogilby, John Ogilby, of London, which is puffed as being an 
accurate description of Africa. I account the man a hopeless liar, 
or else a gull, for, as I shall show, what he writes anent the Caffres 
is the veriest nonsense. 

“ The Cabonas,” he says, “ are a very black people ”—this 
being in some measure true—“ with hair that hangs down their 
backs to the ground”—a most villainous falsehood. “These are 
such inhuman cannibals that if they can get any men they broil 
them alive and eat them up.” 

Here, indeed, is a playful extravagance. “ They have some 
cattle, and plant calbasses, with which they sustain themselves.” 
Verily, they would grow lean on such fare; but hearken further : 

“ They have, by report of the Hottentots, rare portraitures, 
which they find in the mountains, and other rarities (animum 
pictura pascit iftani ), but by reason of their distance and barbarous 
qualities the whites have never had any converse with them.” 


The Golden Kingdom 


238 

Heard one ever the like ? To be sure the book is old, at the 
best largely a copy of Dapper, yet no doubt Master Spetticue 
thought he had unearthed a treasure in Fleet Street, and so sent it 
me forthwith. 

It is to correct such follies that I give my own adventurings 
to the world, which, though remarkable, are none the less faith¬ 
fully recounted, and if considered critically and in a friendly spirit, 
will be found not only possible but probable by those who are 
acquainted with the perils of the sea and the strangeness of these 
distant regions. Let this digression, then, be pardoned, and let it 
suffice to say that we were most hospitably received, fed, lodged 
and tended by a very decent and plodding set of folk. To be 
sure, thanks to Corkran’s forethought in storing a sum of money 
in the boat’s locker, we were not dependent upon charity ; but even 
had we been miserable beggars I do not doubt but that our 
reception had been kindly. The Dutch love the clink of coin as 
well as other nations, but at the Cape, at least, are simple, homely 
people, and well-disposed towards chance strangers; at least, 
towards those who are mere birds of passage. Indeed, we could 
scarce have been better treated had we been of the gentler 
sex. To women there is accorded the warmest welcome. 
There is not a maiden in the settlement. It is the place of 
all others for a damosel, even if plain and dowerless, to seek 
a husband, and in which to find one, or, were it permitted, a 
round dozen. 

The governor himself was keen to hear our tale, and was very 
gracious. I aired my Dutch and gave him Corkran’s version of 
our adventurings, which I confess bore but a distant resemblance 
to the original. 

“Would you have us hanged as pirates?” said that worthy 
when I remonstrated with him. “No, no, our craft w r as the 
Princess , bound for Madagascar for black ivory, and Heaven send 
that Jan Van Wyk has not set foot in the town.” 

Fortunately for us there was no sign of the Dutchman. As 
we were to discover, chance gave him an opportunity of which he 
was not slow to avail himself, and while we idled in Cape Town 
and awaited Jacob’s recovery, he was stealing a march on us, and 


The Challenge 239 

was well upon his way. Of that more anon. At present, I am 
concerned with our efforts to raise sufficient money to enable us 
to purchase a small, half-decked craft, in which to complete our 
voyage to Terra de Natal. Corkran was determined we should 
not go as passengers in any Dutch ketch or galiot which might 
pay a passing visit to the lagoon. It was important we should 
arouse no suspicions, and certainly questions would be asked if 
three white men of their own free will landed in such a savage 
place. Although many doubted the existence of a river Camissa, 
and though a few scoffed at the very idea of a great Empire inland, 
owing to the failure of repeated expeditions to find a trace of it, 
yet was there a very general belief that, somewhere to the north, 
somewhere beyond the farthest tribes of Hottentots visited, who 
bore the very name Inquas I had read on the chart of Obed 
Schryner, there existed an enlightened people who worked in gold 
and the precious metals. 

The town was full of rumours anent them; in their idle hours 
the burghers discussed the question ; it was a frequent subject of 
converse at the little wine-shop which Corkran patronised. Con¬ 
sequently we had no wish to have a Dutch expedition following 
fast on our heels, and it was essential we should proceed alone 
and in our own vessel. 

Jacob’s illness was an excuse for our lingering, and, without 
boast, I may say that we were popular amongst the colonists. 
For all that Corkran was ill at ease. He had purchased pistols 
and went about armed, he set me to listen and report the talk of 
those who quaffed ale or drank wine in the tavern, and he himself 
held somewhat aloof, though he was on good terms with all men. 
Clearly there was something on his mind; it was plain his previous 
experiences in this place had been such as to render his present 
visit a trifle dangerous to him. As events proved he might have 
passed undetected; the fact that he was indeed that Nicholas 
Corkran whose name years ago had been a byword in the young 
colony, who had once done a deed of violence and wrought 
a vengeance in a peculiarly grim and ferocious manner, might 
never have been discovered, had he not with that daring reckless¬ 
ness which was one of his features, thrust himself into prominence. 


240 


The Golden Kingdom 

He had his reasons for so doing, he did not act out of bravado, 
but I confess he was rash and ran a great risk. 

I have said we needed the wherewithal to purchase an excel¬ 
lent little ketch or coaster which chanced to be for sale. Now we 
had a certain sum of money which we increased by the price we 
got for the boat, but it was scarce sufficient. There was no use 
setting out upon our venture unless we were well provided with 
copper rings and coloured beads for the natives. Further, we 
required arms, new clothes, and shoes, and certain other com¬ 
modities essential for travel in a country hot by day and bitter 
cold at night. Rugs of skin called karosses, bags to carry food, 
hunting-knives, and a host of trifles I need not specify, had all to 
be bought, ay, and paid for on the spot. There was no giving of 
credit in a place where vessels came and went, and where sea¬ 
farers of half a dozen nations jostled each other and made their 
purchases. 

Corkran’s opportunity came at last, and I am free to confess 
the chance of earning money was one after his own heart. It had 
an element of sport in it,—there was a pitting of his skill against 
that of others, a glory and excitement which appealed to him. 
For several days he had been at his wits’ end as to how to raise 
the wind, as he put it. Work was paid and well paid, but there 
was a certain jealousy of foreigners, and especially of Englishmen, 
entering into competition with the burghers. In any case my old 
sea-dog was not the man to soil his hands with farm labour or with 
building walls for the castle of an alien power, or in any common 
landlubberly way. 

“ Stap my vitals ! no,” said he ; “I get my living from the sea 
or else I play for high stakes. To grub and delve and spread 
mortar or prune fruit-trees is no game for old Nick, my lad,” and 
so he idled and kept a watchful eye on those he met, till a very 
fine and original idea entered his crafty brain. 

“ I have it, Doctor Harry,” he cried one day; “ I have it! 
Split me ! an’ I do not take the cocksuredness out of these smug 
Dutchmen, and line our pockets at the same time.” 

“ I am prepared to believe anything about you, Captain 
Nicholas,” said I; “so let us hear this great discovery.” 


The Challenge 241 

“ Ha, you rascal! ” said he, in high good humour, “ you would 
poke fun at me, would you ? Have a care, have a care ! ” 

His eyes shone, he was all a-quiver with excitement. 

“Sit down,” said I, “or you will be on the verge of an 
apoplexy.” 

“Faith!” he answered, “’tis these stolid burghers will be 
there when I have done with them; but here goes, my lad. It 
seems that in October it is their custom—a new one since my 
time—to hold a fair at the outlying hamlet of Stellenbosch, at the 
back of the mountain yonder. On such an occasion they paunch 
barrels of ale and puncheons of wine, even the Constantia of the 
Governor, deliver themselves of speeches and conduct sports and 
games. Especially do they exercise their landweer in the use of 
arms, and turn out the trained bands. Further, there is a great 
contest, a shooting at a mark called a papegaai, in shape like an 
old poll-parrot, and there are prizes for the same. He who chips 
off a splinter gains sixpence, a shilling goes to the man who shoots 
off the tail, the left wing is valued at one shilling and sixpence, the 
right at two good shillings, the head is priced at four; but, my 
lad, he who hits Poll fair on the rump and shivers him to pieces 
pockets five pounds—five jingling, yellow pounds from the coffers 
of the Most Honourable Company of Baggy Breeches, and every 
stiver of the money paid as entering fees, and gains the title of 
‘ King of Marksmen.’” 

“ I see,” said I; “ ’tis a mighty pretty ploy, and you think to 
profit by it ? ” 

“Profit,” said he; “I tell you the five pounds is as good as 
won. They be very fair marksmen, these Dutch, but they have not 
yet met one who has been a woodman in Virginia. Ay, ay, 
Doctor Harry, I was accounted to have the keenest eye and 
surest hand in all the colony, and many a bead I’ve drawn on an 
Indian’s shaven scalp. When you have to shoot for your life you 
shoot best, and that is how I was trained in the olden days.” 

“ But,” said I, “ ’tis not October.” 

“Am I then such an addlepate as to have forgotten the 
seasons?” he replied testily. “No, but ’tis not far off, and two 
days hence the chief farmer at Stellenbosch celebrates his 

16 


242 The Golden Kingdom 

birthday. There is a fashion that the last King of Marksmen 
holds the title till it is wrested from him, and that is what I am 
about to do.” 

“Well,” said I, “you speak of cocksuredness, but for proper 
complacency you would be hard to beat.” 

“Yet with reason,” he shouted, “ as I shall show. I am about 
to issue a challenge to all and sundry, and you must put it in the 
Dutch for me. The weather is excellent, and there is no reason 
why they should not advance their precious fair. If they do not 
accept my challenge they will appear timid, and his pride is a 
tender point with a burgher. Ecod ! but I will wake them up to 
a right merry tune ! ” 

“ And what of your privacy ? ” I asked. 

“ Away with it! ” said he. “ In any case I am much altered in 
appearance, and am I to skulk about when there is a chance like 
this going a-begging ? I will even risk it, my lad; so let us sink all 
we have in the ketch ; and when I have taught these baggy- 
breeches how to shoot, we’ll pay the balance and heave anchor in a 
hurry. Now for ink and paper, and do your best for me.” 

The man positively gave one no time to think. He was certain 
of his ability to beat all comers, and would not rest till I had 
drawn up the following astonishing document, copies of which he 
gave Corrobee, now recovered, to distribute in the streets, and 
which he himself affixed by permission of the landlord, who 
could not deny so excellent a customer, to the very door of the 
wine-shop. 

“ Know all men ,” it ran, “ that Captain William Catch¬ 
penny ,” for this was the title he had adopted, “ of the English 
Colony of Virginia in the Americas, being at present sojourning 
in Cape Town, and being accounted a marksman of no mean 
repute , herewith declares that he is ready, conformable to the 
gracious permission of the Most Honourable the Governor and 
the Great and Honourable Company of the Netherlands, to give 
evidence of his prowess with the musket at the trial of skill 
called Shooting at the Papegaai, held each year at Stellenbosch. 
As the said Captain Wilham Catchpenny purposes to proceed 


The Challenge 243 

on matters of importance to Calicut , he is unable to tarry till 
the October fair; but should it prove agreeable to the Most 
Honourable the Governor and the Great and Honourable 
Company aforesaid to proclaim a holiday at the merrymaking 
presently to be conducted at that place on a joyous and auspicious 
occasion , he is prepared to vindicate alike the honour of his 
country and this his deposition , agreeing in all matters to 
shoot according to constituted rule and to abide by the decision 
of the constituted judges .” 

“ Ho, ho ! ” said he when it was finished, “ but that will cause a 
stir ! Mark the cunning of it. ’Tis as humble as a starving dog, 
and yet has the air of a swashbuckler about it. They will never 
stomach such a pill, and every stout fellow in the peninsula will be 
keen to try conclusions. Catchpenny ! Catchpounds should be 
the name of the said honourable captain.” 

He laughed till his eyes watered, and I laughed also. His 
mirth was infectious. 

“ Ecod ! ” said he, “ were Jacob well we would have him out to 
wrestle their strongest man, while you and their head-surgeon 
might see who could poison most folk in the shortest time. 
Body o’ me, but this is the rarest jest I have known for years ! ” 

“We shall look precious fools if you fail,” said I. 

“ Fail!” he cried. “Did you ever know me fail? No, no, my 
cock, I wager you a bottle I hit the old parrot on the rump.” 

“ When you have the wherewithal to pay for the bottle I may 
take the wager,” said I, and we fell a-laughing again as though we 
were the jolliest rogues imaginable, and not two hapless, ship¬ 
wrecked men, foiled upon a mad quest, and forced to devise 1 
scheme for supplying their pressing needs. 


CHAPTER XXI 


THE PAPEGAAI 

Corkran had beyond all doubt roused the settlement. The 
burghers were trooping to Stellenbosch from the main town, from 
the farms at Rondebosch and Wynberg at the back of the 
mountain chain, and even from Drakenstein and the parts about 
Zeekoevlei, near Simon’s Bay. The governor had taken a liking 
to the project, had proclaimed a holiday, and added a goodly 
sum to the first prize. He was anxious that the honour of the 
company should be upheld, and his anxiety spread amongst Dutch, 
French, and Walloons. Every burgher of any reputation as a 
marksman cleaned his musket, and made for the rendezvous. 
From early morning they began to take the inland road—mounted, 
on foot, and in slow-moving, creaking waggons—with their wives 
and families. Stellenbosch is some five-and-twenty miles from the 
sea, and many purposed to spend the night in the open. 

It was indeed reported that prayer had been made for the 
success of Marthinus Diemer, the last year’s champion, and for 
the utter confounding of this upstart Captain William Catchpenny, 
of the English colony in Virginia. There had not been such a 
disturbance for years. The whole place was agog with excitement; 
it looked as if Cornelis Wolmaraans, the decent and influential 
farmer of Stellenbosch, was to have a birthday celebration like 
that of a king. We received information regarding the prepara¬ 
tions from certain Scots of Dundee who had taken up their abode 
at the Cape, and, having much in common with the Dutch, lived 
amongst them amicably, greatly to their own profit, as indeed is 


244 


The Papegaai 245 

the way with that enterprising and wandering people. They had 
the decency to espouse the cause of the Englishman, and insisted 
on escorting us to the inland village, lending us horses for the 
purpose. 

Old Nicholas had purchased a remarkably fine weapon with a 
prodigious length of barrel, approaching, as he told me, the type 
of musket used in the backwoods of the Americas, and with a 
stock which suited the length of his arms. He spent nearly a 
whole day levelling it at a mark on the wall and testing its balance 
and the way it fitted his shoulder, and at length declared himself 
satisfied. I accompanied him to the lonely seashore beyond a 
rocky promontory, and there he practised firing, though he did 
not trouble to set up a target. 

“The poll-parrot will be enough for me,” he said, “and the 
poor bird should be trembling already for his rump.” 

Most men, I opine, as the time drew near, would have had 
some qualms as to their skill, and been shaken in nerve, but 
Corkran set out as confident as ever. I was grieved that Jacob 
had perforce to be left behind, for, though he was out of bed, he 
was still weak and unfit for much exertion. 

The journey was full of interest. We passed the swamp in 
which the sea-cows were wont to disport themselves—creatures of 
a remarkable bulk, unwieldy, with heavy, square heads, leather¬ 
like hides, sharp, upright ears, squat legs, splay feet with rounded 
toes, and short tails. Of these more anon. We crossed the sandy 
spit, the road being marked by posts; we swept round the flank 
of the huge mountain, and entered a region of surprising loveliness. 
Here were signs of tillage, cosy farms, vineyards, orchards, many 
young oaks, and all about the wildness of a virgin land. Herds 
of cattle grazed on rich grass, and we saw much sign of game, 
more especially of eland, hartebeest and steenbuck, beautiful 
horned antelope, exceeding swift and wary, the first-named well- 
nigh as large as oxen. Behind us the ground sloped steeply till 
it rose in gigantic cliffs, with kloofs in them where dwelt the lions 
and the leopards, though of these we saw nothing. Away in front 
of us and in the far distance towered other mountains, and all 
about was a vast expanse of plain and undulating land, over 


246 The Golden Kingdom 

which, I was credibly informed, roamed troops of lordly 
elephants. 

I am powerless to describe it as I saw it for the first time, and 
may only mention an abundance of wild-flowers, the freshness of 
the air, and the cheering warmth of a mighty sun. The road was 
of the rudest, red and dusty; but we met and passed groups of 
wayfarers, all intent upon this outing and the great contest with 
the firelocks. Indeed, the very sailors from the ships in the bay 
had been granted a two days’ run ashore, and were mingled with 
the others, as jovial as boys who have played the truant and have 
not been discovered. 

At length we reached the most charming of valleys, bosomed 
in hills of divers shapes seamed by a clear stream which looped 
about a wooded island. The grass was long and lush; there were 
groves of dark forest trees where many birds piped sweetly, and 
the shade was grateful in the heat of the day. Here was a little 
colony, snug and prosperous, with rich fields, a goodly church, 
and a considerable company of decent burghers; and here also 
was the site of the contest. Tents had been pitched and booths 
erected, sellers of provender were crying their wares, some were 
making music with flute and fiddle, and others merely smoked 
and rested placidly in the shade. 

Our arrival created a sensation, the which gratified Corkran im¬ 
mensely and amused me hugely, though all the time I was ill at 
ease, being doubtful of the immediate future. To be sure, the 
old rip had for once made himself presentable. Nothing could 
take the deep tan from his skin, restore the missing ear, and 
improve his wig; but he was soberly and correctly clad, wore a 
decent hat, and had combed out what remained of his beard. 
When he cast down his eyes, drew a long face, and shook his 
head solemnly, he bore considerable resemblance to a disreputable 
parson, as, indeed, he was the first to acknowledge. 

“ Body o’ me,” said he, “ but I am the chaplain my father would 
have made me ! ” 

He was the life and soul of our party all the way to Stellenbosch, 
and even the Scots were moved to merriment by his quips and 
oddities, though he shocked the gravest of them. We camped 


The Papegaai 247 

out of doors, one of our new friends having travelled by waggon, 
which made a comfortable dwelling-place in a climate so magni¬ 
ficent. All night the burghers kept arriving, and our rest was 
broken by the cracking of whip-lashes, the lowing of oxen, the 
pounding of horses’ hoofs, the rumble of wheels, and the noise 
made by the companies as they picked their places and outspanned, 
as it is called. 

Corkran lay and chuckled to himself till I asked him the cause, 
for he had been careful to keep sober, though he had visions of 
hilarity. 

“ Lord love you ! ” said he, “ think what a benefactor I am to 
all this multitude. Here they come from ship and mill, from 
castle and housework, and labour in the fields, to breathe pure air 
and get their livers stirred and their brains quickened. I wonder 
now, my lad, if they’ll have their usual fair in October, and, if so, 
whom they will account king of marksmen on that occasion ? ” 

“ Have you no modesty, man ? ” I asked. 

“ Modesty ! ” quoth he; “I lie and blush at the thought of my 
approaching triumph. Why, the victor is given a garland for his 
hat, may kiss the fairest maid in Stellenbosch, and has the first 
pull at the governor’s Constantia ! Split me ! but ’tis a rare jest! ” 

“You will look a pretty figure in a garland ! ” said I. 

“Yea and verily, Doctor Harry; and how eagerly the fair maid 
will run to greet me—not that I have seen one I should care to 
honour.” 

“ Methinks the wine will be more to your taste,” I answered. 

“ A doctor excellent at the diagnosis ! ” murmured the old rascal, 
and, as was his way, dropped promptly off to sleep. 

The gala-day broke bright and glorious; there was little wind, 
and the whole scene was to me attractive in the extreme. I had 
witnessed more than one Kermis in Holland, but here there was 
a simplicity about the folk and a beauty of the surroundings which 
had been lacking in the Provinces. We seemed far from the busy 
world, the air felt purer, and the whole atmosphere more whole¬ 
some. We were free from the mustiness of ages, and approached 
to the joyous state of our first parents in the garden of the 
Euphrates. Such were some of my thoughts, and I am free to 


248 The Golden Kingdom 

confess I was tempted to compare Corkran to the serpent. Had 
he not crept into this peaceful place intent on creating an uproar, 
rousing ill-feelings, and pocketing a goodly sum by shooting an 
old poll-parrot in the rump? The thing was ludicrous in the 
extreme, and I laughed till I was sore. The burghers, however, 
took the matter very seriously, especially after the governor 
himself had arrived with an armed retinue. He made them a 
short and merry speech, alluding very kindly to Captain Catch¬ 
penny, who had been unfortunate in his voyage, but, like a brave 
man, was bent on retrieving his position the while he sought to 
advance the honour of his country. At this point Corkran well- 
nigh upset me with a wink, though busy bowing his acknowledg¬ 
ments in a manner worthy of a courtier. This gathering, he 
explained, would not interfere with the customary meeting, but 
would be conducted on similar principles, though with less 
formality. In order, therefore, to exhibit to the distinguished 
strangers, one of whom he regretted was unable to be present, 
their method of training the landweer, it would be well to engage 
in pistol practice; and thereafter—here the governor grew serious 
and straightened his back—thereafter it was the duty of every 
good burgher who had any skill with the musket to do his best 
for the reputation of the settlement and the honour of the great 
Company whose servant he was privileged to be. 

He ceased and beamed upon them, and the worthy folk 
cheered him lustily, Corkran rising in their esteem by calling for 
a final huzza for the governor’s wife. To be sure it turned out 
that there was no such person ; but his act seemed prompted by 
a kindly spirit, and he got me to explain that no doubt it would 
one day prove right and fitting, and at present could be trans¬ 
ferred to the good Frau Wolmaraans. 

By this time most of those who intended being present were 
upon the spot, and amongst them were a number of those Khoi- 
Khoin, or Hottentots, the original dwellers in the land. They 
are a yellow, ugly people, with filthy habits and no religion, much 
given to quarrelling amongst themselves and stealing their 
neighbours’ cattle. 

Presently the whole assemblage moved to where the ground 


249 


The Papegaai 

had been furrowed by the plough. At intervals by the side of 
the furrow were set up small marks, at which I found it was the 
custom to discharge the pistol when at full gallop. We stood and 
watched the burghers at this practice; and, indeed, they are 
wonderfully expert, and would put to shame many trained troops 
of Europe. For one thing, they ride with a very easy seat, and 
guide their horses with their knees, so that they are able to 
maintain a good balance and take a rapid but careful aim. 

Then some companies of their militia were exercised in 
manoeuvring and the firing of volleys, which they accomplished 
with much precision, and to the fear and wonderment of the 
Hottentots. 

At last it was time for the great event of the day, and a murmur 
of excitement ran through the throng. In an open space a tall 
pole had been erected, and on the top thereof was set a rude 
figure of wood fashioned to represent a papegaai, as the Dutch 
call a parrot. 

It was brilliant with bright paint, having a red head, a green 
body, the right wing of a purple hue, the left wing yellow, and 
the tail white, streaked with blue. Its beak was brown, and its 
large eye, which had a benevolent look, was black and golden. 
So gorgeous a papegaai had never before graced the festival; but 
it was deemed suitable to a great occasion, and the children were 
especially delighted at the appearance of the noble bird. It 
seemed to me a shame to destroy so remarkable a work of art, 
but none seemed to share my feelings, all being keen to see 
the splinters fly. The trial was none so easy, for I found that 
the marksmen had to stand a full sixty feet distant, upon the 
arc of a circle, at the centre of which stood the pole and the 
target. 

It was customary for them to take their places according to the 
order in which they paid their entrance fees; but for this special 
contest the proviso had been abolished, and they had to draw 
lots for their positions. As this method lessened the amount of 
the prize, the governor, as I have said, had generously presented 
a goodly sum out of his own pocket, and now sat on horseback 
to watch the spectacle the while the drill-master of the landweer, 


250 The Golden Kingdom 

an old soldier, shook up feathers of divers lengths in a hat, 
and called on the competitors to draw. 

There were not so many of the latter as I had supposed would 
present themselves. It appeared that none but the most skilled 
thought it worth their while to oppose Captain William Catch¬ 
penny of Virginia. His remarkable challenge had scared not a 
few, and so but six besides Corkran drew feathers from the hat. 
While this function was proceeding I amused myself by listening 
to the conversation of the onlookers. 

Opinions, I discovered, were divided. 

“ This Englishman,” said one, “ I account a vain and shallow 
boaster whom the Lord will bring to nought, and that right 
speedily.” 

“ Amen to that! ” replied another. “ But have you seen him, 
Meinheer ? He is an old bird at this kind of game, or I am 
much mistaken. His eyes are keen as an eagle’s, and there will 
be none of the boy’s fear about him. * He will not be disturbed 
by shouts or cheering, nor care a finger-snap when another makes 
good shooting.” 

“ If the laying of wagers and such unholy pleasures were not 
prohibited by the law, I would lay you five to one in gulden that 
Marthinus Diemer will win the prize,” said a tall man with sly 
eyes to a little fat fellow at his side. 

“ Had you said rix dollars, and had the law permitted, it might 
have been a bargain,” answered his companion readily ; whereat 
they each produced a book and made some entry therein. 

“ Egad! ” thought I, “ our simple burghers are not wholly 
lacking in subtlety,” and wondered who would pocket these same 
rix dollars. 

Even more entertaining was a young maid of Stellenbosch, who 
clearly fancied herself a beauty, and was indeed of a fresh colour 
and had comely features and a plump figure. She was very 
eager to see the marksmen, and when at length they filed out, 
took their respective stations, and began looking to their flints 
and primings, she gave an indignant toss of her head. 

“Why,” cried she, “he is old and as ugly as a monkey, and 
bowed in the legs ” 


The Papegaai 251 

“ Even so, Kleintje, but he has not yet won the prize,” laughed 
a big-bearded man whom I took to be her father. 

“ Then I hope he will not; think of being kissed by such an 
one! ” 

She made a grimace, and for the life of me I could not help 
smiling at her chagrin, and had half a mind to say : 

“Neither have you been accounted the prettiest maid in 
Stellenbosch.” 

Such a reply had been worthy of old Nicholas, who was a 
trifle sour where women were concerned. As for me, I had 
never troubled about them, save, indeed, when they needed my 
attentions as a leech. 

I quickly saw that Corkran had been unlucky in the drawing of 
lots. He was at one end of the curved line, and could not get 
so clear a view of the target as some of the others. The rule 
was that the men were to shoot in order, from the shoulder, 
standing, and without rests for their muskets. Scanning the 
competitors and listening to the remarks of the crowd, I perceived 
that Marthinus Diemer, a young, well-built burgher, had secured 
a good place, firing third. He had a pleasant face, keen blue 
eyes, and was got up with some pretensions to finery, bearing a 
knot of coloured ribbon at one shoulder, and gay tags to the 
fastenings of his buckles at the knees. After the huntsman 
fashion he wore a crane’s feather in his hat, and altogether was 
the picture of a robust and stalwart marksman. 

Of the others, two were Frenchmen—Huguenots not long 
resident in the settlement, both swart men, but the one very tall 
and lean, and the other short, stout, and rubicund. These were 
to fire respectively second and fifth. There remained two Dutch¬ 
men, one young, the other middle-aged, who had drawn the first 
and fourth places; and lastly, my old man of the sea, the most 
remarkable figure of them all. The first of the six had a coarse, 
tanned visage and twinkling' brown eyes; the second, the thin 
Huguenot, was cadaveric of aspect and miserably ill-fed; the 
third was Marthinus—a handsome fellow ; the fourth was a grim, 
quiet, bearded man with steady grey eyes and heavy shoulders, 
and him I dreaded; the fifth was a regular ball of fat, who kept 


The Golden Kingdom 


252 

fidgeting like a restless horse, and pitching his firelock up to his 
shoulder, and rubbing his stubbly chin. “ A bundle of nerves,” 
said I to myself, “ and seemingly puffed up with pride. It will 
take him all his time to get within a yard of the parrot.” 

The sixth was Corkran—an object of curiosity and interest, 
thin, hard, broad, bowed of leg, long of arm, and scraggy of neck, 
with keen, mahogany-hued face, prominent nose, black and spark¬ 
ling eyes, a tuft of grey beard, and a mop of reddish wig, which 
was visible beneath his laced hat. He was clad in sombre colours, 
as were most of the others ; but he was a thing apart from them, 
wholly distinct. His clothes were those of the land, his air that 
of the sea; he looked singularly alert, and yet was as cool as the 
day was hot, impassive, his queer, scarred visage inscrutable, his 
whole bearing confident and even defiant. 

The hum of excited converse ceased as the drill-master of the 
landweer shouted an order to commence the contest. 

The first of the Dutchmen clapped his weapon to his shoulder, 
pressed his cheek to the stock, took a long and steady aim, and 
pulled the trigger. The hammer fell upon the flint, but the 
musket missed fire. The crowd laughed at his rueful counten¬ 
ance, but he was permitted to chip the flint, sprinkle fresh 
powder on the pan, and have another trial. This time the firelock 
was discharged, but to no better effect. The bullet sang away 
into space—not even the paint of the papegaai was scratched. 
The tall Frenchman fired and struck the post a trifle below the bird 
—a good, straight shot, but lacking in elevation. Now came the 
turn of the King of Marksmen. He was most particular about 
his aim. Twice he raised and twice lowered his gun, but on the 
third occasion the trigger backed, fire flashed in the pan, and 
straightway a shout went up from the crowd. He had shot the 
tail clean off the parrot, and thereby put a shilling in his 
pouch. 

“ Zeer goed ! Zeer goed ! ” cried the onlookers. 

The bearded man, though he kept his musket pressed against 
his collarbone, dwelt long on his aim, and his effort was also 
greeted with applause. He succeeded in knocking a splinter 
from the left wing, and thus won sixpence. The little Huguenot 


The Papegaai 253 

shook so much that his barrel wavered; but he must have fired 
just as it was directly pointed at the bird, for his bullet chipped 
the neck where it joined the body, and he also gained sixpence. 
It was left to Corkran to surprise the spectators. He turned 
round so that his back was to the target, then swung quickly 
about, threw up his long musket, and fired. 

“ Hurrah ! ” I shouted, waving my hat, and the Scots shouted 
with me. 

The old rogue was four shillings to the good. He had hit the 
poll right upon its benevolent eye and carried off its fine crimson 
head. 

“ Almachtig ! ” cried the burghers ; and a few of them, among 
whom was the governor, applauded, but the greater part remained 
silent, being none too pleased at this success. 

Still, when all was said and done, their champion had struck 
the papegaai nearer the rump, and all might depend upon the 
second shot. 

The first two competitors, having failed to touch the mark, 
now withdrew, some sympathy being felt for the cadaveric mortal 
who had indeed held very straight, though scarcely high enough. 

Still there remained representatives of the three nations, and 
the burghers were well satisfied, there being two Dutchmen yet 
to the fore, and one of these the finest marksman in the 
settlement. 

“ Commence firing! ” cried the old soldaat, twirling his 
moustachios, and Marthinus again toed the line. The silence 
was intense. He was quicker on this occasion, and scarcely 
hesitated. His musket cracked, and a yellow wing, severed at 
the root, took a flutter upon its own account and landed on the 
ground. One shilling and sixpence was now added to the 
winnings of Marthinus, and this was great shooting. 

A perfect storm of cheers greeted his performance, and I 
myself clapped vigorously, well pleased that he had missed the 
vital spot. 

Once more the bearded man, who, it appeared, was a famous 
hunter, took his stand and squinted carefully along his barrel. 
With the report the purple right wing parted company with the 


254 The Golden Kingdom 

body, and two good shillings were the property of Janssen the 
Jager. 

As far as money was concerned he was now the equal of the 
champion, and his friends in the eager throng were loud in his 
praises. Those of French extraction had little to hope from the 
excitable Louis Jourdan, and their fears were justified, for he 
missed the difficult shot, and was disqualified from further partici¬ 
pation. Thereat he wept profusely, and retired, swearing beneath 
his breath in a manner unworthy of his sect; but few heeded 
him, every eye being turned on Captain William Catchpenny, of 
Virginia. 

Corkran, no whit concerned, was yet content to fire as the 
others had done, and play no pranks. The mark was small and 
he had need of care. Still, there was no lingering in his aim, 
which proved his eye was sure and his hand steady, for his pellet 
left a long streak of white on the parrot’s body. 

Mine was the solitary cry which greeted his achievement, and 
he turned and called out to me : 

“’Tis scarce worth bursting yourself, Doctor Harry, all on 
account of a sixpence. Save your breath for the next turn.” 

To be sure he had not hit the rump, but he had still to 
be reckoned with, and, moreover, had so far won nigh twice 
as much as either of the others. Great, therefore, was the excite¬ 
ment when the drill-master called for the next round. 

Marthinus, encouraged by the shouts of the burghers, stepped 
forth, and then all was very still, and I could hear folk breathing 
heavily and moving their feet restlessly on the grass. The young 
Dutchman was taken with a certain amount of hesitation; he was 
clearly nervous, but at length steadied himself and fired. There 
came a thud of lead on wood, but, alas for Marthinus ! he was a 
shade too low, and had struck the top of the post just above the 
hole made by the bullet of the lean Huguenot. Murmurs of 
disappointment were heard on every hand; but he retired modestly, 
laughing at his discomfiture, so that, being greatly taken with his 
behaviour, I made a point of shaking him by the hand, much to 
his surprise. 

Janssen was now left to uphold the honour of the Dutch; but 


255 


The Papegaai 

there was no trace of anxiety on his part. He stood squarely 
like a rock, dwelt long upon his aim, as was his custom, and, 
following the report, a yell of exultation went up from the semi¬ 
circle of people, while the governor waved his hat and cried, 
“ Bravo, Janssen ! ” 

His was indeed an excellent shot, for he had scored one side 
of the shapeless lump, and had come very near hitting the special 
spot. Still, he had not wholly succeeded, and Corkran had yet 
to have his chance. I confess I was agitated ; I held my breath 
as he took up his position, but the thing was done in a twinkling. 
There was no delay, no training of the barrel, nothing but a 
quick jerk, a stoop of the head, a flash, a puff of smoke, a report, 
and a perfect roar from the onlookers. Hit fair upon the rump, 
the papegaai was blown to bits, utterly destroyed, and there 
remained nothing but the pole. Believe me or not as you will, 
Corkran, in a fair field and without favour, had won for himself 
the proud title of King of Marksmen, shooting well and surely 
under the alias he had adopted, to wit, Captain William Catch¬ 
penny, of Virginia. 


CHAPTER XXII 
THE YELLOW CATS 

It was a veritable triumph, but the yell which greeted it was not 
wholly the result of admiration. In part it was a tribute to 
Corkran’s skill; but to an even greater extent it was the outcome 
of pent-up excitement, and expressed anger and chagrin. There 
could be no doubt that the best man had finished first, but it was 
easy to understand that the victory was not popular. Englishmen 
were not greatly relished at the Cape, and, moreover, the cool 
self-assertion in the challenge, and the easy air of superiority 
which Corkran affected, were sufficient to annoy even the stolid 
Dutch. To do Nicholas justice, he became most affable as soon 
as the affair was over. He insisted on all and sundry drinking 
with him ; he bandied jests, being especially amusing anent the 
kissing of the prettiest maid. 

“ Ho, ho !” he roared; “ I warrant she’s- gone to earth like a 
rabbit, and no wonder ! I will make her over to our honest 
hunter, who, but for a lack of quickness, is as fine a shot as 
any in Virginia.” 

Janssen, however, had slipped away, not even waiting for his 
money, and could not be found. 

“ Marthinus, my lad,” shouted Corkran, “ I depute to you 
the duty.” 

Nor would he rest till I had explained his meaning; whereat 
the Dutchman reddened under his tan, but expressed his willing¬ 
ness to accept the task. 

“ Ay, ay, there you beat me ! ” laughed the old rip; “ but were 

956 


The Yellow Cats 


257 

I twenty years younger—stap me ! but I would match you even 
at that game! Body o’ me, Doctor Harry, what would she say 
were I to whip off my wig in the process ? ” 

He chuckled till the tears stood in his eyes, and threw a 
handful of copper on the grass for the children to have a 
scramble. 

“Lord love you!” said he, “but there is something very 
decent about these Dutch, and bairns are the same the world 
over.” 

He had a trick of using a Scotch word every now and then, the 
which had commended him to our friends from Dundee, who 
were now quenching their thirst at his expense. 

Presently the prizes were pree ented, the governor being lavish 
in his compliments, though he expressed due regret that a burgher 
had not won. 

“ Come you back, Captain Catchpenny,” said he, “ and we will 
do our best to beat you next time, even if we have to practise 
each day to do it.” 

“Tell him,” said Corkran, “ I will make a point of it, and take 
a beating like a man; but, stap me! Doctor Harry, if ever I set 
foot here again ! The game is scarce worth the candle, and I have 
no wish to grace one of their young oaks or labour in Batavia ! ” 

I translated the first part of his speech, and it was received 
with loud applause, so that he had to bow to the right and to the 
left. He himself, however, led the cheering when Marthinus 
Diemer and Louis Jourdan advanced to receive the price of their 
winnings, the latter’s sixpence being a great source of merriment, 
and that although it was in reality an honour to strike the bird at 
all. Moreover, a sixpence is a very fair sum, and not to be 
sneezed at, as Corkran himself remarked. 

He would take nothing but the five pounds and the governor’s 
gift. The rest he made over to the sailors from the ships, who 
thereupon constituted themselves his bodyguard. He was at 
home with them, and soon had them gaping one moment and 
roaring the next, scratching their heads in astonishment, and 
holding their sides. 

“ Away with you, Doctor Harry!” he cried, as I endeavoured to 

17 


The Golden Kingdom 


258 

get him to Cape Town. “ Here I am, in the company of barnacles 
and periwinkles and honest limpets—and here I stick till they are 
as full as lords ! ” 

I got him to hand me over most of the money, however; for I 
feared he would be robbed, or that it would all go in graceless 
extravagance, and then I awaited his pleasure and watched the 
folk dispersing. While thus idly employed, so to speak, I over¬ 
heard something which alarmed me. As I sauntered past a group 
of men who were talking vigorously, with their heads set close 
together, one of them, evidently in hot dispute, raised his voice, 
and I distinctly caught the words “ Obed Schryner.” Another of 
the party sighted me, uttered a warning, “Stil!” and the talk 
dropped to a whisper. I paid no attention, but was at once set 
on the qui vive. It was evident that some one had recognised 
Captain Nicholas, and associated him with the memory of Obed 
Schryner—that very name the initial letters of which were set on 
the chart of Jan Van Wyk. 

Ignorant as I was of Corkran’s past relations, although I groped 
in the dark and could not be certain whether or no I acted 
wisely, I did not hesitate. Corkran was safe with his bodyguard 
of sailors, and at the worst would be conveyed by them to one of 
the vessels in the bay. What was urgently required was the com¬ 
pletion of the purchase of the half-decked ketch, the Vryheid , 
which lay off the mouth of the Fresh Water, and was owned by 
a fish merchant who lived in the second cross street from the sea. 
My resolve was taken, and, accompanied by three of the Scots 
who were tired of the revels, I rode with all haste for Cape Town, 
hoping to reach it shortly after sundown. 

“Your freend,” said one of these gentlemen, “is verra like to 
be clappit in the stocks as a disturber o’ the peace. We hae here 
a faytherly kind o’ government, and it’s an ill job to be a drunken 
body. Noo, there was Andra Semple, a decent lad frae Glesca 
toon, but ower gi’en to the bit bottle, ye ken-” 

He entered upon a lengthy disquisition of the troubles into 
which this toper had fallen, and I answered him almost at 
random. Fortunately he himself was loaded to the eyes, but 
had a wonderful balance on the saddle, so that on the whole we 



The Yellow Cats 


259 

made good progress, and, there being a young moon, managed to 
gain the town somewhere about ten at night. 

Bidding the worthy trio an affectionate adieu, and leaving them 
vowing they would constitute me their physician did I but settle 
in the colony, I hurried off to the house of the fish merchant, and 
found him already abed. For all that, he was not averse to con¬ 
cluding a bargain, although he was genuinely surprised at my 
ungodly haste and the lawless hours I kept. I trumped up some 
very lame story which half satisfied him; but the sight of the 
prize-money brought joy to his soul, and I was soon confirmed 
in the ownership of the ketch, and insisted on his signing a scrip 
to that effect. He looked as slippery a customer as any portion 
of his stock-in-trade. 

A curious restlessness possessed me. I hurried back to the 
house in which we lodged, bade Jacob dress and hold himself in 
readiness to take the sea; then, with the negro’s aid, I conveyed 
all our purchases—such as a cooking-pot, hatchets, muskets, 
powder and shot, beads and copper rings, blankets, and other 
trifles—to the shore. There I stood on guard while he returned 
and fetched the remainder of our belongings—a small cask of 
salted meat, a keg of biscuits, and several bottles of wine fastened 
up in straw. The water barrels on board we knew to have been 
freshly filled, and we were aware that the ketch was also partly 
provisioned and supplied with a compass and other requisites for 
navigation. She was in charge of a man who slept aboard her, 
and consequently her skiff was fastened astern. I took the liberty 
of making use of a boat lying on the river bank, and we pushed 
off and were quickly alongside. We roused the crew, so to speak; 
and though he was puzzled at this sudden transfer of ownership, 
he recognised the signature of the fish merchant, and, taking his 
bundle, went ashore in the boat we had appropriated. 

Any other man but a sailor would have made a prodigious fuss 
over the business, but your mariner is a great philosopher, having, 
indeed, no very firm hold on life at any time, and beir g used to 
ups and downs on shore as well as on the sea. Still, I was not 
satisfied, and, rowing to land, I returned and found Jacob ready, 
though perplexed at this sudden move. I explained matters as 


260 


The Golden Kingdom 

well as possible, and helped him through the silent town to the 
little craft, and so aboard the ketch. 

Even then I was not content. I pushed off once more with 
Corrobee, gained the shore, and, leaving him to watch the skiff, I 
returned to our lodging to await Corkran’s arrival. The night was 
very still and very beautiful, and the huge bulk of the mountain 
looming up behind the little town was all in shadow, save where 
in the moon’s rays its long, flat summit stretched as a mighty 
ridge three thousand feet and more above the level land. 

Sounds travel far on such a night, but the burghers were 
bedded; and though a watchman called the hour in a sing-song 
voice, the quiet air was otherwise undisturbed, save for the low 
rumbling of the wheels of some belated waggon and the distant 
booming of the surf. The minutes passed. A night bird called 
harshly; a little black bat came circling about in zigzag flight 
while I paced up and down the street in which we had lodged. 
My thoughts were busy with the past—yes, and with our imme¬ 
diate enterprise, which, on the eve of its execution, appealed 
to me with redoubled force. To penetrate unknown regions; to 
meet and conquer dangers as they occurred; to be free, un¬ 
trammelled, and constantly encountering startling novelties; 
to get at the very heart of nature; to deal with the untutored 
savage, and witness the wild beast of the forest and plain as 
God made him—the idea was inspiring, and quickened the pulse. 
Our strange quest fascinated me. I had heard enough here, at 
the Cape, to feel assured there was some such spot as this golden 
city—some hidden kingdom of learned workers in metal. To 
such we would come as a revelation, and bring them new ideas, 
and instruct them in divers arts. The Dutch had failed. We of 
England would succeed. Might we not even found a colony, and 
open up the land to trade ? Here, indeed, was a lofty aspiration, 
wholly apart from any greed of gain. My fancy soared higher and 
yet higher. I built my castles in the air, and Heaven knows where 
I might have landed had I not been brought back to earth by the 
sound of a jovial chorus. It came from the west, in the direction 
of the castle, and was followed by rounds of cheering. The 
noise of moving waggons also reached my ears, and no doubt 


The Yellow Cats 261 

I had heard it before but that I was so wrapped up in my own 
thoughts. 

“ Beyond question,” said I to myself, “ here is my old man of 
the sea ! ” 

Presently I heard hoof strokes, and then the tread of feet, 
and then the sound of a very merry whistling, and the calls 
and shouts of drunken men. At once I bent my steps to meet 
this crowd of wayfarers. A little up the main street there appeared 
several figures dancing hither and thither, waving their hands in 
the air, and giving vent to the silliest of meaningless cries. I 
drew back into the shadow of a house, and watched them go past, 
the advance guard of Corkran’s jolly tars. Their performance 
was a scandal in such a reputable settlement, though, to be sure, 
they were their own worst enemies. Very soon the main body 
hove in sight, and I perceived Captain William Catchpenny, of 
Virginia, hoisted on the shoulders of several of his admirers, and 
apparently directing their choruses, to judge from the movements 
of his arms. Reeling figures capered on the outskirts of the 
throng ; one musician scraped upon a fiddle, and another tootled 
lustily upon a horn. Lights appeared in some of the houses as 
they passed, the astonished burghers or their fraus looking forth 
with disapproval on this disreputable company. A waggon 
followed them, and from it were thrust numerous feet and legs 
belonging to members of the honourable bodyguard who had lost 
the power of progression. Lastly, and this was what scared me, 
marched several armed files of the troops of the company from 
the castle, intent on seeing the last of these undesirable visitors. 
All, however, were in the greatest good-humour, and as Corkran 
was borne past me he started singing with all the vigour of his 
remarkable voice the first verse of his old sea-song. The whole 
company, Dutch though they were, caught up the chorus, and to 
the roar of 

“ Yo, ho, ho 1 
Let the good ship go I ** 

reeled and lurched and capered, and were carried towards the 
shore, where the ships’ boats were drawn up. 


262 


The Golden Kingdom 

There was nothing for it but to follow in their wake, and I fell 
into line beside the waggon and its silent load. We reached the 
beach, and only then was Corkran set upon his legs. To my 
surprise he stood as steady as a rock, though his feet were planted 
a trifle wide apart. He insisted on singing a full verse of his 
ditty, and beat the measure with his metal reed as the others 
bellowed the chorus, and bestowed the helpless members in the 
boats. At the same time he kept walking backwards till he 
suddenly ran full tilt into me, and trod heavily on my toes. But 
as he did so he contrived to whisper: 

“ Be ready for a bolt, my lad, as soon as these swine push off’.” 

Of a verity old Nicholas was by no means so drunk as he 
appeared, and was quite alive to the dangers of the situation. 
I confess I was greatly relieved, for I had been puzzling my 
brains as to how to get him safely to the skiff. I had no chance 
of telling him about my preparations, for the merry mariners 
came crowding about him to bid him farewell. The scene became 
truly affecting. Some wept salt tears, and even endeavoured to 
embrace Captain Catchpenny; but that worthy avoided such 
affectionate demonstrations, and tripped up a few of the most 
pressing, so that, being unable to rise, they had to be shipped, 
like their messmates, in the waggon. There were four boats 
hailing from three ships, and to this day I do not know if each 
received her proper complement. To my mind it appeared that 
the crews would require considerable rearrangement in the morn¬ 
ing. Some of the under-officers were moderately sober, however, 
and by blows, curses, and entreaties at last succeeded in getting 
the last man aboard and the boats under weigh, though I am 
free to confess the oars moved like the legs of some spider which 
has got turned upon its back, and is fixed there by a pin through 
its middle. Somehow, the craft made progress, and slipped away 
from the shore, their occupants shouting back adieux to Corkran, 
who waved his hat to them. 

“ Stap me! ” said he, “ what a night! ” and mopped his 
face. 

“ ’Tis a good thing for us that it is calm and clear,” I answered. 

“ Art right, Doctor Harry, but hand me over a dollar or two, 


The Yellow Cats 263 

for I have not a penny in my pouch, and we must fee yonder 
ramrods if we are to win clear.” 

I gave him some of the money that remained, and he went 
coolly up to the soldiers. 

“ Good-night, my lads,” said he. “ Go wet your whistles after a 
thankless task; carry my respects to the governor and tell him 
how much I regret all this unseemly uproar.” 

He got me to explain his meaning, and the men, who were in 
charge of a sergeant, saluted, and were not slow in pocketing 
the coin. 

“ Ho, ho ! ” said Corkran as they marched back to the castle, 
“ ’tis the same the world over—the yellow key, my cock, the 
yellow key ! There’s never a door save that of Paradise which it 
cannot open. And now, is all ready ? ” 

I was a little taken aback, for I had prided myself on my 
resource, and had intended to surprise him. He took a wrong 
meaning from the expression on my face. 

“ A murrain on you ! ” he cried roughly. “ Did I not tell you 
to begone when you came pestering me to accompany you from 
Stellenbosch—and whither, and for what purpose ? Is not a wink 
enough ? Was I to explain all our plans, and those about who 
would like to see me swing ? I know them, and if we tarry till 
morning we are undone. I have played the game right up to 
the finish, diddled them fairly, dropped them in the night, and 
now, forsooth, you have furled sail and-” 

“Man !” I cried, “dost think every one a fool but yourself? 
See—yonder rides the ketch, and Jacob is aboard her, and 
Corrobee waiting by the skiff at the Fresh Water. There is 
nothing to do but shove off, get her hove, and away to this 
Terra de Natal.” 

“ Split me ! ” said he, “ but you are a lad after mine own heart— 
a veritable jewel ; and the way you have picked up sense from 
me is little short of marvellous ! ” 

“ You have my thanks,” I answered drily; “ but ’tis scarce time 
to bandy compliments.” 

“ What a night! ” he repeated, and chuckled to himself with 
the greatest glee. 



The Golden Kingdom 


264 

Nothing would please him but that he should return and 
reconnoitre the street in which we had lodged, nor would he let 
me accompany him. I therefore waited at the river mouth in 
much anxiety; but he appeared erelongwith the slightest in¬ 
dication of a stagger in his gait. 

“They’re yonder,” he said briefly—“a dozen of them, and 
Janssen with them. They were afraid to rouse the tarry breeks, 
and so await my return. Ecod! but they will be stiff by that 
time. Vaarwel! ” and with a mock flourish of his hat in the 
direction of the little town he embarked, and the negro bent to 
the oars. 

But a short time thereafter, had any been gazing from the shore, 
they might have seen the vessel’s brown sails spread to the breeze, 
fill and bulge, the while the ketch slipped softly seawards, and 
stood across the moon’s track with her bow set for Robben 
Island. 

We were not long in settling down. Corkran was in the highest 
spirits. 

“ She’s called the Vryheid ,” quoth he, “ but we’ll re-christen her 
the Good Hope> for she’s served us well. Never have I put in so 
profitable a run ashore, or compassed so rare a jest. Body o’ me ! 
but I fancied I was an old man, Doctor Harry, who was past 
relishing a good drinking bout or a game of skill, and now, here 
I am the King of Marksmen, and as full as a Thames wherry ! 
When I have a few minutes to myself I will clap it into metre, 
and put a tune to it.” 

In course of time he did so, and as I can still come at the 
words, and recall the trip of the measure, I set down the former, 
which to my mind have in them something of the philosophy of 
Cicero. But let the reader judge : 

Some say a man at sixty-five 

Has ceased to live, must cease to strive, 

Is dull of eye, is dull of brain, 

Can ne’er enjoy a jest again. 

But there they lie, and cannot see 
That seventy a man may be, 

And yet be full of jollity— 

Of right, good-hearted jollity. 


The Yellow Cats 


265 


A man of seventy, they say, 

Had better quickly pass away. 

His teeth are few, he cannot chew, 

He may not drink—what can he do? 

But there they lie, and cannot see 
That fourscore years a man may be, 

And yet be full of jollity— 

Of right, good-hearted jollity. 

What use, cry they, at eighty years. 

Is one who’s lame, and merely peers, 

And blinks and nods, and by the fire 
Waits for the hour he must expire? 

But there they lie, and cannot see 
That ninety years a man may be, 

And yet be full of jollity— 

Of right, good-hearted jollity. 

So list to me, ye croakers all, 

Who would the joys of age miscall 1 — 

A man’s as aged as he feels, 

And may have mettle in his heels 
Although as old as you or me; 

Ay, even a hundred he may see 
And yet be full of jollity— 

Of right good-hearted jollity; 

Though sure he is an oddity, 

I grant you he’s an oddity. 

Such was his song, but it was not written till the Good Hope 
had made the place called in the native tongue Bubolongo.* Ere 
that we had encountered a great danger, had experienced as curious 
a peril as ever beset a company of voyagers, and in this manner. 

It was not long before we discovered that our troubles were 
scarce over. Our compass was not reliable, so nothing was left for 
us but to creep along the southern limit of Africa within sight of 
its rugged and broken coast-line. We slipped out of the bay 
easily enough, giving the ships a wide berth, and, hauling sail, 
stood between the island of our sojourn and the promontory 
which looks due north. The ketch splashed along merrily, and 
was easily handled, the which was indeed fortunate, for Jacob was 
not yet fit to lend a helping hand. When day broke in glory 
* The old Kaffir name for what is now Durban.—E d. 


266 


The Golden Kingdom 


away in front of us, we were alone upon the ocean, save for a 
school of grampus, bustling and blowing around us, and racing us 
in play. The hours passed and we sped onwards, keeping the 
shore in sight and heading for a time due east. 

“Terra de Natal,” said Corkran, “occupies some three and 
a half degrees of latitude lying between 3i 0 -3o, and 28°; 
therefore we must stand well to the norrard, or ever we reach it. 
We will do well if by the seventh day we make the mouth of a 
river which the Dutch call the Eerste, and five days thereafter 
we should sight the promontory and the bar, where I was cast 
away in the slaver from Madagascar these many years ago. Had 
I that fish merchant I would slit him like any cod for shipping 
such a compass ! As ’tis, we must hug the shore.” 

Consequently, towards evening we tacked closer, and presently, 
the breeze falling, found ourselves in the grip of a mighty current. 
Although by this time I had become somewhat versed in sea 
lore, I confess I did not recognise our plight. Corkran, however, 
speedily perceived we were in danger. 

“ By Daddy Neptune,” said he, “ but this accursed race seems to 
set straight for the shore. If the wind does not rise we shall find 
ourselves in evil case, Doctor Harry.” 

How evil was not yet apparent. 

We lowered the skiff and made an effort to pull the ketch clear, 
but in vain. I had not conceived the power of such ocean 
currents on becalmed craft. 

“ The tide begins to make within the hour, and there is never 
a chart aboard,” quoth old Nicholas; “ we must take soundings, 
my lad, and make ready the anchor.” 

The sun sank in splendour. Rarely have I seen anything so 
superb in colour as the western sky on that eventful evening. A 
deep sapphire changed to pale purple, and this to a chaste green, 
and this to orange, and then to the yellow of a ripe lemon. Flung 
upon this background, like long islands on a flaming sea, were 
cast purple cloud shadows with crimson and silvery linings. 
Every moment they changed in form and colour, now heaped and 
dark, anon thin streaks in shape like the bodies of lean fish, and 
yet again mere feathery lines, or scattered spots. The glow of the 


The Yellow Cats 


267 

yellow ball of a sun illumined them, and when he dipped and 
vanished, the radiance yet remained for a space, and the tints 
shifted and spread and altered as do the hues upon an opal. 

It was exceeding lovely, as though the portals of Paradise were 
opened wide; and the light lingered longer than is usual in such 
regions, so that ere the afterglow had faded, stars were twinkling 
in the vault, and black night was casting his veil upon the east, 
whence came drifting fleecy vapour masses borne by lofty currents 
of air. 

They drifted, I say—and so, unhappily, did the Good Hope. We 
were powerless to aid her: no wind stirred her laggard sails, and 
we drove quietly, slowly, and yet surely towards the land. Pre¬ 
sently a half-moon wandered up into the sky and dipped and 
coquetted with the night clouds, so that the whole world lay half 
in shadow, half in light, and the sea stretched vague and still and 
shrouded, till it blended with the gloominess away to the dim 
and darkening south. There was something in the scene which 
saddened—a loneliness, a mystery which became intensified when 
we perceived what manner of coast was this which threatened us 
with destruction. A moaning of surf reached our ears, and we 
saw a fringe of black, flecked with white, which glistened when the 
moon shone upon it. Above rose a background of hills, brown 
and black, and barren ridges, low and desolate and irregular in 
outline. Every here and there a long patch of silvery sand sloped 
from them, narrow at the summit and broadening at the base, as 
though it had flowed from out each gap in the crest, and spread 
in the flowing. The yellow rays struck on these tongues of 
drifted sand, and they gleamed a ghostly hue, while over them 
sailed the cloud shadows like passing ships with dusky canvas. 

“ What manner of place is this ? ” I asked, awed, yet fascinated. 

“You will presently find, my lad, to your cost, if there is no 
holding-ground, or if a breeze draws out of the south,” quoth my 
Job’s comforter, going forward to heave the lead. “’Tis the 
most villainous of lee shores. God’s curse be on it! ” 

“’Tis there already,” said I, as I gazed with fear at the 
forbidding prospect, which brought into my mind these words: 
“ The abomination of desolation.” 


268 


The Golden Kingdom 


Yet, as I am about to show, it was not wholly devoid of life. 
Nearer, and yet nearer, we drew to it; and presently the silence 
was broken by Corkran calling the depth every few minutes. He 
had found bottom, but there were yet many fathoms beneath our 
keel. What crawled upon this sea-bed ? I asked myself. Was 
it as lonely as the foreground, or did it teem with hideous 
creeping things which might yet account for us ? 

The misery begotten of idleness fastened upon me, and I was 
filled with gloomy forebodings till Corkran shouted to me to 
stand by to lower sail the while he and Corrobee cast anchor. 
The cable rapped and rattled, following the splash, and ere long 
the ketch swung to her moorings and strained upon the rope. 

Corkran came aft to where I stood. 

“ So far so good,” said he; “ but I have my doubts as to the 
hawser. It is as rotten as its whilom owner.” 

“ There is nothing left to be done ? ” I asked. 

“ Some,” said Corkran, “ might pray. I am for provisioning 
the skiff, and putting together a raft, if we have a sufficiency of 
planks and boards.” 

The speech was like him. He had faith in a God, but he had 
greater faith in himself, and was essentially a man of action. So 
we set to work, even Jacob taking part, and the ketch tugging at 
our solitary anchor and testing the rope strands. Fortunately it 
remained calm; yet the current ran strong, and the tide drove 
also against us. Ten ships’ length away the sullen swell curled 
upon the rocks, and split and slithered upon them, and showed 
like snow when the moon sailed clear of clouds. This she did 
less frequently, for it grew darker, and many stars were 
blotted out. 

Beyond the solemn booming from the beach and the clatter of 
our hammers, there was never a sound. Never a sound, I say, 
till suddenly the air was filled with a prolonged rumbling, 
increasing in intensity till it ended in something like the bellow 
of an affrighted ox. It came and went, a distant roaring, and all 
was still again; but Jacob and I gazed at each other with blanched 
faces, while Corrobee cast himself prone upon the deck, and 
Corkran sprang to his feet 


The Yellow Cats 


269 


“What is it?” I asked. 

By way of answer he pointed to the shore. 

I rose from my knees and looked, following the direction of his 
outstretched forefinger. Afar upon the crest of the ridge there 
stood out against the northern sky—which, though dark, was yet 
clear—a black and rounded mass. It was close to the apex of 
the nearest of the glistening, steep, and sloping sand-spits, and 
was motionless. I gazed at it, and could make nothing of it; but 
just as a heavy cloud swept across the moon’s face and made all 
obscure and indistinct, I fancied that I saw it move. 

“ What is it ? ” I asked again, beneath my breath. 

“ Wait! ” said Corkran, speaking also in a whisper. 

The darkness lasted perchance five long minutes, and then 
again all was bright; and, lo! the black mass had vanished, but 
there was something upon the sand-slope. It needed not 
Corkran to tell me what it was. I knew it at a glance, lessened 
in size though it was by distance, and viewed only by the 
shifting, uncertain light of a watery moon. For the first time I 
gazed upon the form of the king of beasts. It was indeed a 
lion, standing erect and facing seawards, a dark spot upon the 
white sand, as though he challenged our position. As I watched 
him, he crouched a little, like a cat keeping guard upon a mouse. 

“ Ho, ho ! ” said Corkran lightly ; “ ashore we have the king of 
beasts, afloat the king of marksmen. The game will begin when 
they are both on dry land.” 

“ Surely,” said I, “ ’tis no time for jesting ! ” 

“ Tut! we may have no time later,” said he. “ But, a fig for 
all his roaring ! I am not much concerned about a solitary-” 

He paused ; for what were these forms which came stealing on 
to the spit from the gap in the hill-ridge ? One after another 
there appeared dark shapes cropping up against the sky, and then 
moving downwards to join the first-comer. A shadow swept the 
shore, and we waited. The shadow passed, and we could doubt 
no longer. Where there had been one lion there were now 
seven: a veritable troop of yellow cats had gathered to give 
us greeting in the wilderness. 



CHAPTER XXIII 
TERRA DE NATAL 

Consider our position ! The ketch was dependent for safety on 
a frail rope with frayed strands. At the best we relied on a mere 
shallop, and would have to struggle with a pair of oars against the 
tide and a powerful ocean current which appeared to set dead on 
shore. Once drawn near the surf we were lost, sucked to the sea- 
bottom, beaten and broken on the rocks; or hurled on the beach, 
an easy prey for those eager, ruthless brutes who now watched us 
in a silence which was ominous. They bunched together, and 
made a truly magnificent picture as they stood beneath the moon’s 
rays. The leader, a huge male, had a dark mane, and, as before, 
he headed the others as they began to descend the slope. They 
drew nearer, treading gingerly like stalking cats, and at length we 
perceived there were two young males and four females. 

“ A family party,” said Corkran ; “ and I will wager our first 
friend owns the whole harem. There will be trouble when the 
whiskers of these young cockerels begin to sprout.” 

It was curious to hear him talking with such levity; but, to tell 
the truth, none of us were greatly scared. For one thing, fear 
was lost in wonder at this revelation of wild life in the waste 
places of the earth—in wonder and intense interest. For another, 
we could scarce believe the thing was real. The situation was 
such as one might encounter in an ancient and lying classic 
author. It seemed wholly out of place in these latter days, and its 
appearance of unreality was increased by the time and place of 
its occurrence. The pale moonlight, the flickering cloud shadows, 


270 


Terra de Natal 


271 

the vast, untraversed sea, the forbidding and lonely hill ranges 
with their strange spits of sand, and above all the brooding silence 
of night, broken only by the rhythmic boom of breaking billows, 
were all in keeping with a belief that this startling sight was but a 
figment of the imagination. Had the great lion roared again the 
illusion had been dispelled; but after crawling nearer with hunched 
shoulders and heads thrust forward, the seven stood in silence, and 
at times we could see their tufted tails waving to and fro. Three of 
them lay down, and suddenly their leader started pacing back¬ 
wards and forwards in front of them like a sentinel upon the beat, 
moving with quick, short strides like those of a trotting dog, and 
halting at the end of each of his traversings to turn and look 
seawards and at us. Even Jacob could see them clearly, and 
watched them fascinated; but the negro was full of terror, having 
had experience of such animals in the forests of his home. 

“ One would think,” said Corkran, “ that they were guarding 
the continent; ” and there was truth in what he said. 

Out of the desert they had come, pacing from their hunting- 
grounds to take toll upon any who might set impious foot upon 
their freehold. Such were my thoughts, but for all that I could 
not rid myself of the idea that it was all a dream, till our head- 
sail, which had not been lowered, filled and flapped. 

“A breeze from the south’ard,” said Corkran quietly; “this is 
kill or cure.” 

Then, indeed, I woke to the full peril and horror of our pre¬ 
dicament, and realised that seamanship, ay, and the finest seaman¬ 
ship, alone couldlsave us. There was a gurgle and splashing at the 
bows, the ketch lifted and fell, the hawser slackened, and grew taut. 

“ Heaven send ’tis a capful when it comes,” quoth Nicholas ; 
“ otherwise, it means the skiff, and ten to one, a shuffling out of 
this planet, and, mayhap, a shuffling down the throats of yonder 
gentry.” 

He chuckled harshly, but I fancied his nerves were on the 
stretch. 

“ Put the muskets and a keg o’ powder and some shot in the 
small boat, Doctor Harry. We may find some place to land, and 
will have need of them.” 



The Golden Kingdom 


272 

I obeyed, dreading the worst, and armed myself with a hunting- 
knife and my pistols. The wind freshened, and the Good Hope 
began to toss at her anchorage. 

“ Stand by ready to heave ! ” roared Corkran, at once excited 
by the prospect of action. 

His order was answered by the rolling, reverberating voice of 
the leader of the troop on shore. I glanced in the direction of 
the sand slope, but a dense cloud shrouded the moon’s face, and 
all was cast in the deepest shade. I could see nothing distinctly, 
but the echo of the lion’s challenge lingered and trembled on 
the air. 

The negro and I stood in the bows. I had a hatchet ready, 
but we hoped to save our anchor in case we should yet win clear 
and have need of it. 

The ketch rode uneasily, and the rising breeze began to hum 
and whistle through her cordage. A splash of spray hissed 
aboard, and pattered on the planking. 

“ Ready ! ” came the hail. 

“Ay, ay!” 

“ Then up with her for your lives ! ” 

We strained and tugged. The ketch pitched and drove 
forwards, the rope slackened, there was a dead weight at the end 
of it, and then it began to come in hand over hand. 

“ We’re free ! ” I yelled. 

“Then lay aft, one of you, and stand by to hoist the mainsail.” 

Leaving the negro I ran amidships. 

Corkran was at the helm, but already the drifting craft had 
neared the line of rocks. She would not answer, but made lee¬ 
way, and hung in the wind. It was a moment for a man with a 
steady head and an iron hand and a stout heart, but such a man 
was Corkran the Coxswain, and he bided his time. 

A lively gust came sweeping upon us, and then suddenly, as 
the ketch sprang forward and heeled heavily, he threw his weight 
upon the tiller. Round she spun, heading inch by inch towards 
the open sea, and out thundered the last query and command: 

“ Is all clear ? ” 

“ Ay, ay!” 


Terra de Natal 


273 


“ Then hoist for death or glory ! ” 

I bent my back, the stout wooden rings rattled on the greasy 
mast, the brown sail flapped upwards like a bird’s wing, and 
Corrobee, having secured the anchor, sprang aft to seize the sheet. 
The canvas swung to the wind, and curved like a duck’s breast, 
and like a duck the Good Hope swept upon her way. 

It was the narrowest of escapes. I could have tossed a biscuit 
into the boiling surf to leeward, and the heave of the ground- 
swell shook and staggered us, but we were saved by Corkran’s 
seamanship. Inch by inch, yard by yard, we made an offing, 
and then tacked, filled, and hugged the wind, and crept seaward, 
towards safety and deep, blue water. Then, and not till then, 
did Corkran relax his vigilance. 

“ Give you good-night, my yellow gentlemen! ” he cried 
mockingly. “You had best seek your suppers elsewhere.” 

The breeze bore his voice to the lone beach, bright in the 
moonlight, but there came no answer. This only we saw,—the 
whole troop of lions, seven in number, standing massed together, 
and watching our retreating craft as we threshed to windward. 
And thus they stood clear upon the glistening sand-spit till they 
had become mere shadowy specks and then vanished from our 
view. 

Now, that none may think I deal with lying wonders, I have 
set it on record that these things happened about the third glass 
of the second watch of our second night at sea. 

Thus, by God’s mercy and the skill of Nicholas Corkran, it 
befell that we at length gained that very land of Natal, to which 
I have so oft alluded, and yet concerning which I have so far 
written so little. 

We made a rapid passage, and after coasting along a region full 
of swelling, grass-covered hills, exceeding bare and desolate, and 
with a very grim fore-shore, we sighted the lofty headland at the 
eastern base of which is the mouth of the lagoon. The pro¬ 
montory is a bold bluff, clad with trees and low-growing bushes, 
where gambol merry troops of monkeys, where there are strange, 
harsh-voiced wood cranes, and many other birds, some of a 
gorgeous plumage. Beyond the narrow opening into the lagoon 

iS 


The Golden Kingdom 


274 

is a long belt of sand, continued in a semi-circle of dazzling white, 
so that a great bay is formed, which is alive with fish, and more 
especially with sharks and dolphins. Here, also, are to be found 
hideous sea-snakes of all the colours of the rainbow, exceeding 
venomous and evil-looking, which at times swim beneath the very 
surface of the sea. It so haps that the lagoon itself may not be 
seen from the offing or outer anchorage, being hidden by the 
ridge of sand. There is, however, rising ground beyond it clad 
in verdure, while the bluff itself stretches inland like a huge 
rampart, shaggy with forest growth. 

“A goodly land,” said I, as first I saw it, but Corkran growled 
savagely. 

His quick eyes had detected the mast of some craft rising 
upwards like a pole set in the sand. 

“Tis like our luck,” said he; “there is some trading galiot at 
anchor in the inner bay.” 

For my part, I thought he did ill to repine after we had escaped 
so many dangers, and especially that which had so recently beset 
us; but the old rip lived for the present and the future, while I 
have ever been given to dwelling on the past, and considering 
what has happened, and what might have been. As will readily 
be perceived when this, my narrative, is at an end, my time is 
like to be well occupied for the remainder of my life. 

Neither tide nor wind favoured us, so we were fain to find 
holding-ground a half-mile off shore, and discovered the swell to 
be very inconvenient, testing both our tackle and our stomachs. 
Still, it was well worth some annoyance to be able to feast our 
eyes on this unknown country, full of strange animals and strange 
men, of strange trees and fruits, of unknown dangers and un¬ 
imagined novelties, and beyond which lay the object of our 
quest, the Golden Kingdom. I am free to confess I was fired 
with enthusiasm, and Corkran, having vented his spleen on the 
unoffending craft in the lagoon, was also full of eagerness. Only 
Jacob was impassive. He had never wholly recovered from the 
scurvy and the injury to his head, and rarely spoke, except when 
questioned. He was not morose, far from it. His smile was as 
kindly and genial as ever, but now and then his features wore 


Terra de Natal 


2 75 

a vacant look, which scared me. At times I feared his wits had 
gone astray, and I dreaded one day to find him slavering and 
mumbling to himself. Still, his bodily strength was not 
diminished, he had benefited by the soft sea air and the salt 
breezes and the quietness aboard the ketch, so that he was fit to 
accompany us upon our arduous march. 

“Look ! ” said Captain Nicholas, “yonder is a rare beach for 
turtle and their eggs. I have seen them crawling black upon it 
in the moonlight, and turned them by their flippers. In the 
dense woods are troops of elephant, which shelter therein during 
the heat of the day, and in the cool hours roll forth to feast on 
the grass of the savannahs. Ay, and there you will find the 
horned rhenoster, and the bush-hog, and the wood-python, and 
every manner of deer and antelope, and snakes a many, and 
coloured flies, and glowing beetles. I tell you, Doctor Harry, ’tis 
a wondrous land, and as full of life as I was full of the governor’s 
Constantia. Yonder is where I crawled out of the sea, and upon 
yonder slopes I was chased by a bull elephant, and had much ado 
to get clear of his trunk. Away beyond are rolling uplands, my 
lad, and patches of groves and fair rivers of sweet water. These 
savannahs teem with game, and everywhere one may find the 
grass huts of the natives, a peaceful, kindly folk, who will offer 
us wives, and have us stay with them. Ay, they are thick upon 
the land as fleas upon a Spaniard right to the great mountain 
chain to the west and north, where dwell the pigmy Abatwa in 
their painted caves. ” 

“ And beyond ? ” I asked. 

“Beyond are more plains and more hills, and a barren, 
desolate, unkindly stretch reaching to the borders of the great 
swamp itself.” 

“ The swamp ! ” said I, and for the first time, strange as it may 
seem, recalled the fact that we had lost the book of Rhazes, the 
Arabian. Both Corkran and I, however, had read it to some 
purpose, as will in time be seen. I had accounted our chief loss 
that of the skin of the great gorilla, for without proof such as it 
afforded, one had not been able to recount the tale of Jacob’s 
prowess at the Cape, there being heavy penalties against liars in 


276 The Golden Kingdom 

that fatherly settlement of the Dutch. I am free to confess, if 
these were exacted to the full, the revenue would be more than 
doubled, but let that pass. Who am I to judge my fellow-men? 

The hours sped till our opportunity came of weighing anchor, 
and running for the lagoon. Then, indeed, we had an infinitude 
of trouble, having to warp the ketch across the bar. Fortunately 
for us, the crew of the vessel in the inner bay caught sight of us, 
and proffered us their aid, which Corkran accepted with a very ill 
grace. The negro and I took the anchor ashore in the skiff, and 
found these men to be Dutch from the Cape, and their galiot 
called the Roode Vos. They were very friendly, and rendered us 
great service, so that, leaving them and the negro on the beach, 
I returned and cast the lead, while Corkran steered us cunningly. 
It was no easy matter, and I held my breath till I found the 
Good Hope riding upon the smooth water of a huge and shallow 
lagoon, studded with wooded islands, and surrounded well-nigh 
on every side by the densest dark green forests. Such is Bubo- 
longo, the solitary haven of Terra de Natal. 

To the east was an open patch of sward, whereon cattle and, as 
we afterwards found, tamed buffaloes, were feeding in several small 
herds. In the bay itself some of the natives were fishing on the 
turtle-beds. This they do in an ingenious manner, lowering a 
sucking-fish by means of cords, and when the same fastens to the 
turtle, drawing both up, and reaping the reward of their clever¬ 
ness, if not of their labour. 

It being the afternoon, the sun was very hot, and, wearied by 
the heavy work of the past week, and being safe come to moor¬ 
ings, we betook ourselves to sleep, and lay, all four of us, like logs 
till the morning of the next day. Then we had converse with the 
Dutchmen, and learned something which filled us with dismay, 
and impressed upon us the need of haste. It appeared that they 
had arrived ten days before for the purpose of trading in 
elephants’ teeth, skins, feathers, and turtle shells. When passing 
Robben Island they had seen a man on the beach making signals 
to them, and showing every sign of distress. Consequently they 
had backed their sail and sent their boat ashore, the which had 
brought off a very huge, barefooted, and black-bearded man, who 


Terra de Natal 


277 

stated he had been upon the island for a month, having been 
wrecked there when voyaging from the Provinces to Java. They 
had treated him well, but the day after they had reached Bubo- 
longo he had disappeared, in what manner they knew not, but 
feared he had fallen overboard in the night and so been drowned. 

“ Drowned ! ” said Corkran to me. “ Devil a bit, ’tis that 
precious rascal Jan Van Wyk, who stole the stone from me. He 
has now stolen a march on us, and is off up country as fast as his 
long legs will carry him. I will tell you this much, if we do not 
overtake him and recover the bauble, why, we take our lives in 
our hands when we venture amongst the fastnesses of the Abatwa.” 

“ What are we to do with the ketch ? ” said I. 

“ Scuttle her,” said he; “ we can scarce hide her till we return.” 

“ Might we not rather sell her to the Dutch ? ” 

“Stap my vitals! but you are a Scot at heart, Doctor Harry. 
Much good money will do us in the wilderness. Still, we may 
bury it somewhere, and thus it may prove handy later. I do not 
like giving the baggy breeches even an inkling of our plans, but 
we will see if they will trade.” 

The surprise of the Dutch was great when they found we pur¬ 
posed settling for a time in so wild a country; but they were not 
the men to lose the chance of a good bargain, and though I 
haggled with them over the price, we effected an amicable sale of 
our little craft, from which I parted with regret. 

Behold us, then, with our boats burned, so to speak, ready for 
our enterprise, and in some ways not so ill equipped. For one 
thing we were brown and hardy, inured to toil and danger, 
capable of doing with little sleep and less comfort, somewhat 
careless as to life, and with a firm belief in our good luck and 
destiny by reason of perils passed and obstacles surmounted. 
Jacob, to be sure, was moved by other motives, and had lost 
interest in his surroundings, but he came with us willingly, and 
brought with him his cherished hammer. 

We gave the negro the chance of shipping on the Roode Vos, 
but the faithful fellow elected—an unhappy choice—to accompany 
us, and as he could carry heavy burdens despite the heat, he was 
no mean accession to our company. 


278 The Golden Kingdom 

We camped upon the shore of the lagoon, hard by the sandy 
spit, and Corkran instructed us in the setting up of a thorn hedge 
as a protection. After all, however, there is little danger from the 
wild beasts of prey in any part of the country, as they can satiate 
their hunger on ox or buffalo or antelope, and have a wholesome 
dread of man. 

We found the open sward was, in reality, a sandy plain covered 
with verdure by reason of the first rainfalls, and the forest we 
discovered to be full of short-stemmed trees, flowering creepers, 
and undergrowth of thickets. Here and there were fair glades or 
meadows, spangled with flowers, clumps of broad-leaved plants 
and graceful date palms, such as Corkran told me grew in Arabia. 
I confess it would take much time and ink to write of amaryllids 
and lilies and irises, graceful trailers, plants like brushes, and 
blushing flower spikes full six feet high, trees succulent and tufted, 
evergreens, thorn bushes, and the most beautiful of ferns—how 
am I, who tell a plain tale, to halt and discourse upon them ? 

As for the animals, I am free to confess that at the outset we 
did not see so great variety of them as I had expected ; but 
those which were evident made ample amends. For the first 
time I clapped eyes on elephants—ay, on herds of them—huge 
brutes with crinkled hides, humped backs, shapeless heads, 
pig-like eyes and tails, vast, spreading ears, noses prodigiously 
long and prehensile, curving tusks of ivory, and great, flat, 
four-toed feet, which, according to Corkran, are, when cooked 
in ashes, most juicy and succulent dainties. To tell the truth, 
so strange are those massive quadrupeds that at first sight of 
them it is a trifle hard, as Corkran remarked, to distinguish 
their bows from their sterns. Happily, they are exceeding 
inoffensive, save when attacked, and as we had abundance of 
fresh beef, and were not hunters of ivory, we left the herds 
in peace, though I loved to watch the creatures feeding in 
the open, or spraying themselves in the forest with the muddy 
water of some still pool. 

I have said we had fresh beef, but we had also flesh of 
another kind, for the natives, of whom I have yet to speak, 
besought us to shoot a sea-cow, or, as some call it, a river-horse. 


Terra de Natal 


279 

Of these there was an abundance in the broad water which flows 
into the lagoon, and I account them the most curious of 
created things. They also are in some respects pig-like, 
enormous water-hogs, with peculiar snouts, having nostrils on 
the tips thereof, wherefrom they blow and spout like whales. 
I had seen them at the Cape, but here they were in greater 
numbers, floating half-submerged, or with only their nostrils 
showing, while in the reeds were to be found their tracks, of 
the broadness of a waggon-road. I am persuaded that this 
monster is the behemoth of the Book of Job, whom no man 
can bind. Corkran, however, armed with his musket, proved 
more than its match, and by a clever shot in the eye, slew 
one of them, to the great joy and wonderment ot the Caffres, 
who feasted on it right royally, and to repletion. To my mind, 
its flesh is most palatable when made into a broth with herbs and 
drunk hot in the cool of the evening. 

We had but one adventure at this stage, and it befell Jacob 
Little, who was fond of wandering in the woods with me. Being 
thus harmlessly engaged, we were suddenly charged by a short 
and bristly boar, with ugly tusks, and a tail which stood on end, 
and of which the tuft drooped like a broken ear of barley. He 
came at us out of a belt of reeds hard by a shallow pond, and 
was very furious in his onset. We fled in different directions, 
and I did not rest till I found myself amongst the branches of 
a convenient tree. From this point of vantage it was somewhat 
ludicrous to observe the squealing and infuriated hog pursuing 
my comrade. The smith, however, had his hammer with him, 
and though, like myself, he had been alarmed at the first rush, he 
speedily recovered. He permitted the boar to gain on him, then 
sprang to the side, and wheeling about, brought the hammer-head 
down upon the creature’s skull, and felled it, so that it lay kicking 
and grunting upon its side- We were not long in despatching it; 
but Jacob rallied me on my ignominious flight and powers of 
climbing. 

“ True,” said I ; “ but had I been armed like you, I had never 
fled at all,” the which, though I doubt if it were true, he could 
not disprove. 


280 


The Golden Kingdom 

This fierce and malicious pig of the reeds was none such bad 
eating, and we smoked his hams, and carried them with us when 
we set out upon our travels. 

Such, then, are some of the things we saw and did. And as 
for the natives, those we first lodged amongst are named the 
Amatuli, though I have heard them also called Magosses. 
These be Caffres, unlike the yellow Khoi-Khoins of the Cape, 
being black, and a very decent folk, lazy, amiable, and pleasant 
of countenance. To be sure, they go well-nigh naked, the men 
content with a double piece of cloth or woven silk grass, the 
women with a short petticoat reaching to the knees; but they 
are fond of coloured beads and rings of copper or of iron. 
The men wear tall caps made out of beef tallow, and upon 
festivals and feast-days they stick feathers therein, and, so 
adorned, present a very fine appearance. They live in hut 
clusters, surrounded by close fences of reeds, and each house 
is shaped like a beehive, and well thatched. To be sure, these 
dwellings are dark, and stink vilely, but they are very warm of 
nights, and withstand both wind and rain. The natives are 
husbandmen, or rather husbnndwomen, for it is the latter who 
labour and do the tilling. The men tend the cattle, build the 
huts, hunt, and bask idly in the sun, snuffing or drinking a bitter 
beer made in a somewhat dirty manner from their grain. Milk, 
also, they drink, especially when sour, and feed on guinea corn 
and eggs, goats’ flesh, the beef of cattle, and on divers birds ; for 
they have poultry, and likewise ducks. Money they know not, 
trading with fat cows, and paying for wives with the same, each 
man pleasing himself as to number, and virgins being priced 
according to their beauty. Dampier is in the right when he 
remarks that the bride cries all her wedding-day, for I have seen 
them weeping, though I myself had nothing to do with the maids, 
as is the fashion with some when living in those parts. 

There are three kinds of corn, many pumpkins, water-melons 
of the finest, calabashes, of which they fashion utensils, and a 
variety of beans. They sow earth-nuts, and make snuff from wild 
tobacco. As regards dainties, they fare upon the turtles aforesaid, 
on prunes which grow wild upon the shore, on sourish grapes, on 


Terra de Natal 281 

wax and honey, and on the game which they kill with their 
spears, for the assegai is their chief weapon. 

They are ruled by a king or chief, who goes clad in the skin of 
the deer or the leopard, and is much reverenced and loved, and 
they are greatly given to songs and dancing, and the recounting 
of ancient tales. 

So much for the Amatuli; and, being no historian, let me 
merely say that the same is more or less true of other tribes—to 
wit, the Abakwamacibise, the Amakunze, and Amaqwabe, living 
by the rivers in the north, and, above all, the Abambo, the 
greatest and most numerous. These last bear also the name of 
Emboas ; and the others, in their order, are sometimes known as 
Magrigas, Matimbes, and Mapontes. 

So many lies have been told about these folk that I would fain 
justify them further, but may not tarry to do so, and shall only 
touch upon their customs in so far as they concerned us when 
journeying amongst them. Let me say this only : That in some 
respects they are like the Jews, practising circumcision, avoiding 
the flesh of swine, and having a feast of firstfruits. Yet are they 
without religion, though a few believe that an unknown God, 
Umkulunkulu, which being interpreted signifies the Great Great, 
sent a mighty wind that shook the reeds, and presently there 
came from out them the first man and the first woman. 

As may be supposed, we did not tarry long amongst the 
Amatuli, but set our faces to the north in the hope of overtaking 
the Dutchman, Jan Van Wyk. Very wondrous was the country, 
all forest and glade, and clear river for many miles; and then, as 
we mounted higher and drew away from the sea, it changed, and 
we were amongst bare grass stretches, in broken, hilly land, 
studded with thorn bushes, and there being few trees, save by the 
watercourses. 

Here, indeed, was a veritable multitude of wild animals. 
Lions there were, and also leopards, but neither dangerous; 
rheboks, harts, and elands large as horses, wild asses most 
beautifully striped, deer with tails like those of cows, vast troops 
of antelope—some with crested heads and white bellies, some 
spotted, some streaked. Many have large horns, ringed, twisted, 



282 


The Golden Kingdom 


curving, and bent; some have manes ; and one species, dwelling 
amongst reeds, is hairy like a sheep. Nor must I forget the horned 
and ponderous rhenoster, drawn on Corkran ? s chart, of which 
there are white and black varieties, the one having a single, the 
other two stout horns set on his snout, and both having an 
armature of the toughest hide, and being sly and wary. In some 
rivers live long and scaly lizards, with knobbed snouts and fang- 
lined mouths. These smell of musk, and lie upon the mud, and 
lurk evilly near the silent banks, so that one has need of care 
when bathing or drawing water or angling for little fish. 

I despair of describing all, and no doubt will again be dubbed 
a liar, but I have seen, shot, and eaten many of these creatures, 
for the greater number can be approached with ease, and have 
not much fear of man. There they live in countless numbers, 
roaming free and glorious, and feeding on the grass of the 
savannahs and the twigs and buds of the thorn-trees. I have 
heard the thunder of their hoofs ; I have seen them drinking of 
nights; I have watched them speeding and bounding over their 
wide domains. Ostriches, fine of feather, great birds like 
bustards, and others Which are long-legged snake-eaters, stalk 
over these upland pastures ; domed hills of busy ants stud them 
for leagues; night wolves haunt them when the moon is high ; 
and other creatures also love to prowl and prey in the darkness. 

It is all wonderful, magnificent, undreamed of by the majority 
of men, but none the less real. Further, it is beyond the power 
of this my pen, and life is too short to tell of it; so let me cease, 
and recount how we came to the cross of wood, and how Corkran 
told his tale. 


CHAPTER XXIV 


THE CROSS AND THE TALE 

For several days we travelled steadily, being received with much 
hospitality at every village, and lodged in the hut of entertainment 
which is reserved for strangers. The news of our journey spread 
through the land, and heralds met us as we approached the huts, 
and musicians came forth who played upon reeds, while others 
sang songs in our honour. I confess I was heartily amused, and 
longed that I could speak their tongue like Corkran. Jacob, 
however, was, in the opinion of these Caffres, the chief of our 
party. Some of them are tall and well-built men, clean-limbed 
and possessed of much agility, but it is safe to say that never had 
they imagined, much less seen, any one like the smith. His white 
hair was ever a source of wonder, his size and evident strength 
excited their admiration; they made him gifts, they offered him 
wives and cattle, and he blinked amiably upon them and looked 
about him, but in vain, for some stout warrior with whom he 
might try conclusions in a friendly spirit. He was inclined to be 
wroth with old Nicholas for having deceived him ; but the hope of 
meeting Jan Van Wyk proved a consolation, and he only scowled 
at Corkran, who merely laughed at him. 

“ Wait,” said he, “ till I but whip off my wig, and then they 
will account me a more wonderful being even than your 
lordship.” 

u You are,” said I, “ certainly greater in one accomplishment, 
and that is lying, Captain William Catchpenny of Virginia.” 

“ Ho, ho ! ” chuckled the old rip. “ Lying, say you ? What 

283 


The Golden Kingdom 


284 

matters a name when one is a man of his word ? Did I or did I 
not shoot the rump from off the old poll-parrot ? ” 

Thus he and I bandied our witticisms, save the mark, but 
Jacob grew daily more simple and silent, taking little interest in 
his surroundings, and at times annoying us by his stolidity. For 
all that his health was excellent, and he covered the miles with 
long, easy, swinging strides, and did his share of the work, such as 
gathering dried dung and brushwood for fuel when we camped in 
the open. 

The negro was our only trouble, for the Caffres did not take 
kindly to him, though, as he was our servant, they offered him no 
molestation. Apart from this, Corrobee was an accession to our 
company, being skilled in the skinning and cleaning of animals, 
and an adept at striking fire from wood. We were lavish with 
our gifts, which was as well, the natives being given to thieving 
metal of any kind, though honest enough in other particulars. 

Once or twice I had pressed Corkran to tell me the history of 
the chart and of his beard trinket, but he bade me have patience 
and wait till we had reached a certain spot which had a bearing 
on the tale. Ere we had arrived thereat we sighted the huge 
mountain chain and I marvelled at its loftiness. Still more was 
I surprised to find how near seemed those peaks and outlying 
spurs, though in reality they were many leagues distant. So clear 
and pure is the air, however, that it deceives the vision, the while 
it braces the body and tones the nerves. I specially recall the 
day we arrived at the place, which was one where two rivers met 
and mingled, because we were then favoured with the sight of 
a new and very extraordinary animal, A small herd of these 
creatures we saw in some bush country through which we passed, 
and where was a greater plenitude of trees than usual. These 
quadrupeds are exceeding long in the neck, small of head, and 
curiously shaped in the body, sloping from withers to tufted 
tail. Their hides, of a cream colour, are dappled with large 
brown patches, and the males have the rudiments of horns. 
Though ungainly in appearance and unwield in gait, they yet 
travel with an astonishing rapidity as I can testify; for in 
attempting to creep near them on my hands and knees I let them 


The Cross and the Tale 


285 

scent me out, and thereupon they sped away like the wind, 
somewhat resembling ships bowling along before a stiff breeze. 
All about them the dust from the dry earth rose in clouds like 
the smother of foam about a vessel’s sides, and they soon 
vanished over the brow of a hill, leaving me much struck with 
amazement and full of regret that I had not secured one of them. 
The natives say the lions love to prey upon them, but that there 
are not many in the land, and that they are cunning and can see 
a long distance. 

We were now in the country of the Amakunze, and towards 
nightfall reached one of their main villages, whence, as Corkran 
told me, the way to the mountains and the swamp was known to 
him, for he had been there before. I soon found he had not 
lied to me, for several of the older amongst the headmen 
remembered him when he had spoken with them for a short time, 
and were extravagant in their joy at seeing him again. The 
people made us a great feast, and with shield and spear performed 
a dance before us, chanting very sweetly and strangely, and 
beating time the while. Thereafter Corkran rose and thanked 
them, and, producing his metal reed, he sounded a note and 
himself sang a song of his own composing anent his happy return 
and his pleasure thereat. 

It was wonderful to hear him, and the natives squatted in a 
semicircle and gazed upon him with reverence, while some even 
wept, for he had the power of summoning up the emotions, and 
the occasional crack and break in his voice but intensified its 
finer tones. 

It was previous to this ceremony, which ended in the drinking 
of their bitter beer known as “twala,” a nauseous draught, that 
Corkran led me apart, and, bidding me follow him, went a little 
way from the hut cluster to a piece of bare ground in the loop of 
one of the rivers. 

“ This was the place,” said he; “ it must be hereabouts,” and 
presently amongst some loose rocks he found that for which he 
looked. 

It was a crumbling cross of wood, standing lonely in the wilder¬ 
ness, and marked the grave of one who had been a Christian. 


286 


The Golden Kingdom 

“ Here,” said Corkran, taking off his hat, “ rest the bones of 
the Portuguese, Luis da Cardoso, wrecked these many years ago 
in the barque called the Nossa Senhora da Atalaya , and here on 
the morrow I shall tell you all there is to know.” 

Consequently, the next morning, while Jacob and the negro 
remained to be a source of interest and wonderment, Corkran 
and I left the village, or, as it is called, the kraal, and made 
our way to the grave of the Portuguese. We were the more 
readily permitted to withdraw in that the natives regarded us 
as engaged in some form of religious rite, the place having gained 
the reputation of being haunted by the spirts of the dead. 

“ This is a land that changes little,” said Corkran ; “ as I saw it 
these many years ago, so is it now ; as it was when Luis da 
Cardoso was left behind to die, so it has continued and continues, 
save that the number of its inhabitants is increased.” 

“ Left behind, and by whom ? ” 

“ By his own comrades of the ship’s company ; but listen, 
Doctor Harry. As I have told you, I was, at one time, years 
before I had lost my scalp and fallen foul of Poll Scudamore, 
cast away at Bubolongo.” 

“ But,” said I, “ do I not remember you also telling me that 
your wig saved you from the trunk of an elephant ? ” 

He laughed with great heartiness. 

“I allow I lied to you on that count, my lad. The yarn 
was too good a one to be lost, and I can still see your face 
of wonder. Ho, ho ! ” 

“ It was scarce fair.” 

“ ’Twas very fair, I opine—as pretty a tale as ever was coined; 
but, there, if I spin a queer yarn now and then, yet when I have 
passed my word I do not break it, as I am about to show. 
’Tis my code of honour, Doctor Harry, that, and the remembering 
of any kindness shown me, however trifling; but, stap me! if 
both whims have not brought me a multitude of troubles. 
Howbeit, to continue: 

“ I was shipwrecked, and, being after a time the sole survivor 
of the slaver, I fared inland, much as we have done, though by a 
different route. The fact that I was both naked and destitute 


The Cross and the Tale 


287 


helped me, and, further, my voice was my fortune in those days. 
Ah, my lad, but I could sing then, ere my weasand grew stiff and 
my breath scanty. Many’s the ditty I trolled to a gaping audience. 
I could make them laugh till they cried, or cry till they shook 
with laughter. Ay, ay, those were the days, those were the 
days!” 

He paused, and looked fixedly away across the river, and 
his lips twitched a little. For once his thoughts had strayed on the 
backward path, and he was moved. 

“ In process of time I heard of a white man living amongst the 
natives, and, being wearied of black skins, I set off to find him. 
Near this very township of the Amakunze was I charged by 
a buffalo which I had wounded, and, after being pounded to a 
jelly, I was left with a broken leg, and no wish to live, a league or 
so on the other side of yonder rise, though haply near a water¬ 
course. Thither I dragged myself, and so managed to survive till 
some Caffres found me, and bore me to this kraal, where lived the 
Portuguese. This man had been surgeon of the ship Nossa 
Senhora da Atalaya , which, with her consort, the Sacramento , 
had come to grief on the southern coast. Both crews marched 
overland for the bay, de la Goa, which lies towards Mozambique 
and the Sofala coast; but this Luis da Cardoso and a comrade 
parted company with the others, and in the course of wanderings, 
and after many hardships, reached a kraal of the Amahlubi 
people, which of all the Abambo race are the greatest, and 
abide to the north and east under shadow of the mountain chain. 
Strange are the ways of Providence, Doctor Harry; for in this very 
kraal there had died in childbirth, four and twenty years 
previously, a white woman, and, what is more, an Englishwoman, 
one of the survivors of the S. JocLo Baptist a —the St. John the 
Baptist, a ship of Portugal, out of Goa for Lisbon, which, being 
ill-found and sorely handled in battle by two Dutch vessels of 
war, left her ribs also on the wild southern coast. This woman, 
then, whose name I have forgot, had been abandoned to die, and 
had died, and left among these savages an infant maid. The 
babe thrived, became a girl, and, ripening fast in this sunny clime, 
was ere long a woman, ay, and a woman of surprising beauty. 


288 


The Golden Kingdom 


She was the old chiefs ward, and had many suitors. Indeed, men 
were found willing to sacrifice every head of cattle they possessed, 
if, by so doing, they might win her as wife. As has been the case 
ever since Mother Eve ate of the apple, she became a source of 
strife and discord, till by way of gaining peace, I fancy, the old 
chief proclaimed that she was for no black man, and would 
remain unwed till claimed by one of her own colour. Con¬ 
sequently, trouble ceased; but the maid was regarded in the light 
of a goddess, and was supposed to bring good luck to those 
among whom she dwelt. Certain it is, that from the time of her 
birth the Amahlubi people date their progress. I, who have lived 
amongst them, do not speak merely from hearsay, they have told 
me so themselves. 

Consider, then, the situation, when not one, but two white 
men arrived at the great kraal. Cardoso and his comrade, who 
was named Christopher Melinda, and had been surgeon to the 
Sacramento , had heard rumours of this wondrous maid, the which 
had been the occasion of their travelling to the country of the 
Amahlubi. Now, mark you, my lad, on what trifles things of 
moment may depend. The old chief had vowed that his ward 
was to be the wife of the first white man who should arrive 
to claim her. As luck would have it Luis da Cardoso and 
Christopher Melinda passed through the gap in the reed fence 
together, shoulder to shoulder, so that no one could tell who was 
the first to enter. What is more, both were conquered by the 
witchery of the white maid, who, if Cardoso’s ravings had aught of 
truth in them, must have been of a ravishing loveliness, fair of 
form and fair of face, a veritable golden beauty. Ay, ay, my lad, 
you have steered clear of all such craft thus far, and so have I, as 
far as convoy work is concerned, so see you continue on your 
course, for, split me ! if an honest barque can sail under the 
bunting that the poets call tresses. Tresses, forsooth ! Women’s 
tresses, and women’s dresses, and women’s caresses, they are but 
snares and gin-traps, Doctor Harry—reefs and shoals on which 
good ships founder.” 

The old rip took his pipe from out his mouth and spat viciously 
upon the ground, while I was mightily amused at his pessimism, 


The Cross and the Tale 


289 

and shrewdly guessed he had good reason to complain, or he 
would never have become so exceeding bitter anent the subject. 

“It befell, then, that the daughter of the Englishwoman looked 
kindly on Melinda, he being the younger man, and, for all I 
know, the better favoured. The old chief, however, was nothing 
if not fair-minded, and resolved that the matter should be settled 
by combat. Luis da Cardoso, who was as violent in his affection 
as in his hate, must have made a fine fight of it, for though 
he was older than his adversary he mastered him, the contest 
being with shield and assegai, after the native fashion. Further, 
being of noble birth and a very decent fellow, he spared Melinda’s 
life, and thereby spoilt his own. Clemency, my lad, is ofttimes 
folly, and I sometimes wish I had put an end to Poll Scudamore 
and Barney aboard the Kittiwake” 

“ For shame ! ” said I. 

“’Tis easy talking,” replied Corkran, “ but beside the question; 
so hearken further, and carefully, for the tale grows intricate. 
“ Or ever the nuptials of Cardoso and his bride were celebrated 
the tribe fell foul of the Amakunze people, and both white 
men had to take part in the expedition. The Amahlubi were 
victors, but Melinda, in the heat of battle, succeeded in 
treacherously felling Cardoso. Now, the habit of these natives is 
never to let the sun go down upon their wrath, and so the 
vanquished Amakunze having paid tribute, peace was concluded 
and the victors returned home, Melinda with them. Poor 
Cardoso was left like to die in the kraal yonder, and, though 
he recovered, was palsied down one side, so that he was lame 
and crippled. As soon as possible he got himself conveyed 
northward, but, in the meantime, Melinda and the woman fled 
together, and the old chief was so wroth that he would not 
tolerate the sight of a white man, and sent Cardoso back to 
the Amakunze, amongst whom he thereafter dwelt, a sorrowful, 
brooding, and vindictive man. For all that, by reason of his 
skill with herbs and simples, and a certain kindliness of nature, he 
was greatly beloved by these people, a thing of some moment, for 
the chief of the kraal presented him with a gift, of which I 
shall have more to tell. He was already an old man when I 

*9 


290 The Golden Kingdom 

encountered him, but he treated me with much charity, and 
mended my broken leg, so that I recovered the full use thereof, 
and otherwise comported himself as a most gallant gentleman, 
despite his affliction. 

“Naturally, I owed him much, but at first saw no way of repaying 
him. Howbeit, we grew friendly, and, bit by bit, he told me his 
tragic story. Doomed to live and die amongst barbarians owing 
to the treachery of his comrade, half helpless, his rival, whom he 
had fairly beaten, triumphant, the thing was pitiable. Ecod ! but 
it was great to hear him speak, to mark his fury and his 
grief! Eventually, when I had been protesting my gratitude, he 
suddenly put me to the proof. It was his wish that I should be 
his instrument of vengeance on Christopher Melinda. It appeared 
he had heard from a trustworthy source that the couple had 
passed safely over the mountains, escaping the Abatwas, the 
Bossiemans, or Bushmen, as we English call them, and had found 
refuge among a powerful people in the north. God knows I was 
a roving swaggerer in those days, Doctor Harry, and recked little 
of danger. Moreover, having been loud in my protestations, 
I could scarce draw back; so I swore to him by the most binding 
of solemn oaths that I would not rest until I did his bidding. 
Now, mark you how the chiefs gift comes into the tale. 

“ It was necessary that I also should penetrate through the wild 
country of the pigmy savages, but a talisman was forthcoming. 
The chief’s gift, my lad, to the Portuguese who now moulders 
here, and the latter’s gift to me, was no other than yonder bauble, 
which you first saw in my beard, and of which I was despoiled by 
that thieving villain the Dutchman, Jan Van Wyk. It was not 
then, however, as you knew it, for there was no filigree of brass 
work about it; no, it was nothing but a stone, a green and 
hollowed stone, in shape like a shell, and in the form of a locket, 
being hinged with fine brass wire at one place.” 

“ And its contents ? ” I asked, now full of the deepest interest. 

“ Stap me, but you are an impatient devil! ” cried Corkran 
roughly. “ Will you have the tale in my way, or not at all ? ” 

I was silent, and, after puffing at his pipe for a time, he 
resumed his astonishing narration. 


The Cross and the Tale 


291 

“A former chief of the Amakunze had once belonged to 
another tribe living near the mountains, and therefore constantly 
at war with the Abatwa, who are enemies of all men, stealers of 
cattle, and the users of poisoned darts in war. Now this chief 
had been made prisoner in a foray, and was haled to one of the 
painted caves to be put to the torture. He escaped, however, 
after slaying his guards and robbing one of them, who was a 
headman, of the green and shining stone. At that time it was 
indeed precious in the sight of the Bushmen, for it contained a 
few grains of a dried red powder, the very earth which he em¬ 
ployed who first taught their ancestors the art of pigment-painting. 
It was their one possession; it constituted their history, their 
archives, all they valued and revered; but they lost it, as I have 
said. 

“The chief, however, dared not live anywhere near their 
fastnesses, and fled and became a wanderer; but eventually 
landed amongst the Amakunze, who were in some disorder as to 
the succession to the chieftainship of the tribe. Our wanderer, 
by virtue of his prowess and for other reasons, was elected, and 
since that date the stone had been handed down from father to 
son. The chief who ruled at the time Cardoso dwelt with the 
tribe, had no offspring, and had a horror of the bauble, fearing it 
would some day bring his people to nought; and so, as I have 
said, he parted with it, or rather gave it into the keeping of the 
Portuguese. Cardoso believed that it would serve me as a pass¬ 
port, and so I took it with me, when, my strength having returned, 
I set out to accomplish my task. 

“ I passed through the country of the Amahlubi, the old chief 
being dead, and gained the mountains. It was not long ere I 
fell in with the cave dwellers, and I have no doubt but that they 
would have murdered me save for the green stone. Its effect 
upon them was extraordinary, and they clearly regarded me as a 
god. Indeed, I was much delayed in my journey because of 
them ; but at last I made them understand that I was visiting all 
the scattered tribes of their people, and must pass onward. Then, 
indeed, they let me go, though they begged me to return and 
dwell amongst them. You will, I greatly fear, fall foul of them, 


292 


The Golden Kingdom 

Doctor Harry, and see more than enough of them and their 
ways; so there is no need to tell you more at present. They are, 
believe me, scarce better than monkeys—fierce, cruel, untamable 
and cunning, ugly as sin, yet without its attractions, dwarfed and 
repulsive. . . . Howbeit, we go among them well armed, and are 
a match for a hundred and more of them, though perchance we 
may find in the mountains Jan Van Wyk himself. 

“As I have said, I got quit of them, and then I found myself 
in the most desolate of waterless lands, where I near died of 
thirst. I despaired of reaching the country I sought, I doubted 
its very existence, till I fell in with a wretched and half-starved 
tribe of Caffres, from whom I learned that still more to the north 
was a huge swamp, and that on its farther side rose high cliffs, on 
the summits of which dwelt a nation of warriors, who were ruled 
over by a white man and a white woman. Beyond a doubt they 
were those of my quest; but my hopes were somewhat dashed 
when the natives told me that a horrid fever was bred in the 
marsh, and that even to sleep near it meant death at any season. 
I reflected, however, that Melinda and the woman must have won 
through, so why should not I ? and therefore, with that foolhardi¬ 
ness which was my bane, I pressed forward. 

“ To cut the yarn short, my lad, I found the swamp beyond a 
dense jungle-land, a fearsome place—ay, and I found something 
more; for, far off across its noisome stretches, I sighted a huge 
rampart of high land, and on the top thereof were reared walls 
and towers which in the sun’s rays gleamed yellow. 

“ Now, mark you, I had been at the Cape ; I had heard, as 
you yourself have done, a rumour of Monomotapa, of its great 
towns—Vigiti Magna, Davagul, and Cortado. In those days 
when Van Riebeck ruled, the burghers were hot on the scent, 
and every few years expeditions sallied forth only to return 
disappointed. 

“ ‘ Where there is smoke there is fire,’ said I to myself, though 
I did not believe every wild tale to which I listened. Now, there¬ 
fore, it seemed that by a mere chance I had stumbled on the site 
of this Golden Kingdom, on the city of Cortado, no doubt, for 
on the charts it was set down as being in these latitudes. Bethink 


The Cross and the Tale 


293 

you, then, of my feelings. I had discovered what others sought 
in vain—I had found the unknown, and yet could make nothing 
of my knowledge, for the fever found me. 

“ And now listen—listen with all your ears ! As I am an honest 
man, Doctor Harry, this pestilence is bred of gnats. They swarm 
in the jungle-land, tiny flies with spotted wings and a hunger for 
human blood. They feasted on me at night, and ere many days 
were passed I was in torment—full of cold sweats and raging 
heats, of headaches and of vomitings. My skin turned yellow, I 
was utterly prostrate ; but, being of an iron constitution, I haply 
recovered, and crawled back to the kraal of the Caffres in the 
desert country. 

“ What says your treatise on the fevers, Doctor Harry ? What 
says the learned Arabian ? Why do the barbarians in some parts 
coat themselves with gum, and so traverse the marshes in safety ? 
Tell me that, my lad, tell me that ? ” 

I was past speaking. The thing was incredibly strange and 
inconceivable. I sat and gazed at Corkran, and wondered if he 
were the greatest liar the world had ever seen, or if this were the 
veritable truth. And yet, when I come now to ponder upon 
everything, it seems to me that some may think the title better be¬ 
fits myself, although I strive to be a faithful and a truthful scribe. 

“ Go on,” I said at length. “ Go on and tell me all.” 

“ As I lay ill I recognised my folly. I should have tried to 
circle the swamp, vast though it appeared. The natives, howbeit, 
told me that this was impossible, there being deep gorges at 
either end of it wherein coursed the river, which was the cause 
of the marsh itself. They gave me to understand the sides of 
these gorges were precipitous, and could not be trodden by the 
foot of man, while the valleys themselves were as deadly as the 
swamps. How, then, had Melinda and the woman escaped 
the fever ? There was the crux, and to me it remains a puzzle 
to this day, unless, indeed, the Portuguese, who was a surgeon, 
had the knowledge we possess.” 

“ Even so,” I answered ; “ and what of Jan Van Wyk ? ” 

“ That,” said Corkran, “ will be seen in due course; but to my 
tale. 


294 


The Golden Kingdom 

“ So stricken was I both in mind and body that I did what I 
rarely do—I struck my colours and abandoned the enterprise. 
I was young then, and had other things to live for, and a 
love of life; but I allow I should have tried again. As it was 
as soon as I could travel I recrossed the mountains, and did not 
meet with a single Bushman. The pure air of these altitudes did 
me good, but the fever still lurked in my blood, and I was a sorry 
wreck by the time I reached the chief kraal of the Amakunze. 
As a result my temper was none of the best, and when Luis da 
Cardoso, after hearing all I had to tell him, cursed me for a 
poltroon and an oath-breaker, I answered him hotly, and we 
quarrelled. His passion was his undoing, for something gave 
way in his brain, he lost his senses, and in a few days slipped his 
cable and set sail for a haven of peace, or the place where derelicts 
are wont to gather. I buried him, set up this very cross, and had 
the grace to say a prayer over him; then, sick to death of 
savagery and loneliness, I made for Bubolongo. 

“ There I found a Dutch galiot, and aboard her a trader of the 
name of Obed Schryner. Ay, ay, my lad, you may start; see how 
the plot thickens ! When on this craft I drew the chart which 
Jan Van Wyk has stolen, contriving to get some information out 
of Schryner. He was a vain and cowardly boaster, who was full 
of rumours and had never the heart to face dangers and undergo 
privations. Round the coast-line he pottered from Angola to 
Mozambique, and amassed wealth. On the voyage to the Cape 
I grew worse, and raved in my delirium. Thus the Dutchman, 
who understood English, became acquainted with my secret, 
and, though I knew it not, he stole my chart and made a copy 
thereof. You have only seen a replica of it, drawn in secret ink 
and faithfully copied. At the time he used the ink aboard the 
galiot. Fortunately he did not know the value of the stone, for 
either I had not mentioned it in my babblings, or else these were 
so confused that he did not understand their full significance. 
Yet he was a wily rogue, pretending to be friendly ; and when I 
had recovered we voyaged together to Angola, where once lived 
an English sailor called Andrew Battell, who has left a record of 
his sojournings. 


The Cross and the Tale 


295 

“ There the fancy took me to travel overland to the Cape itself, 
and I made the proposition to Obed Schryner. He agreed to 
accompany me, and we set out together, with native carriers and 
merchandise for trade. His heart failed him, however, and one 
night he robbed me as I slept, and no doubt would have stolen 
also the green stone but that I had devised the plan of having it 
set in brass work, and keeping it in my beard hairs and made fast 
to a chain looped through the skin of my neck. Ay, Doctor 
Harry, he feared to wake me, and was not quite villain enough to 
stab me to the heart; so he decamped with the negroes and all 
my belongings. I was not to be beat, though; this time I was 
resolute, and I marched every step of the way through a country 
unknown to Europeans. Then I found how their charts erred. 
There is a river, a great river, but not the Camissa. It flows from 
east to west, and its banks are alive with game. The country is 
indeed wonderful, a vast wilderness, in part mountainous, in part 
plain, and in it there is a bare region covered with a strange, 
low-growing scrub, a dry and thirsty land, wherein I well-nigh 
perished. 

“ Yes, my lad, I, Nicholas Corkran, am the sole white man who 
has traversed these solitudes, which from this very fact I look 
upon as English, despite all the guttural Dutch jabbered at the 
Cape. I had a multitude of Curious experiences, and everywhere 
I met the Khoi-Khoin and the Abatwa. Again my bauble saved 
me, and rendered success possible. When we have leisure I 
must get you to write an account of my journeyings, for they will 
disprove much that is erring and foolish. I speedily found that 
there was no Empire of Monomotapa, no nation learned in metal 
work, no truth in the rumours at the Cape, no hope of realising 
the dreams of Jan Van Riebeck. Do you know the joy of the 
explorer, the wondering delight of being the first to see a river or 
a mountain, the feverish desire to discover more, and to come 
safely through it all ? If not, you will presently, Doctor Harry; 
but it is a passion strong as that for strong drink. Let it suffice 
to say that lean, haggard, hard, and triumphant I reached the 
coast, and eventually the Cape itself. 

There, in the very tavern we frequented, I one day encountered 


296 The Golden Kingdom 

Obed Schryner. I was sitting alone in my corner making up for 
time lost by drinking heavily, when he entered with several others. 
To my surprise he began by boasting of what he had done. He 
had done, forsooth ! It was what I had done ! He stated, as was 
indeed true, that he and an Englishman had set out to explore 
all the country from Angola to the Cape; but then he went on to 
say that the dog of an Englishman had robbed and deserted him, 
and left him to continue the journey alone. I tell you it was 
ludicrous to hear him. He drew upon his imagination and 
stuffed his companions with the most prodigious of lies. He 
described the river Camissa, and insisted that there was a 
nation of fair-skinned men, whose king had entertained him 
kindly. 

“I let him run on, for he amused me hugely; but at length, 
being three parts drunk, he whipped out the copy of my chart, 
and proceeded to explain how he had also travelled in Terra de 
Natal, and seen a city whose walls were of pure gold. I myself 
was none so sober, and his damnable impudence, and the 
knowledge of his theft, and the fear that he would betray my 
secret, threw me into a fit of ungovernable rage. I suddenly 
confronted him and cast the lie in his teeth. Split me, Doctor 
Harry, but you should have seen his countenance! It was 
as though one risen from the dead had suddenly met him 
face to face. I taunted and jeered at, and flouted and 
mocked him, and then vowed that I would blot out the 
lying wonders on his chart with his own blood. We fought, 
and I ran him through after a few passes. Then, before them 
all, I seized hold of a quill, dipped it in the red which oozed 
through the hole in his shirt, and scored out the word Camissa 
in both charts. 

“ I would have done more, but the Dutchmen recovered from 
their surprise and stupefaction, and set upon me. There was 
a regular brawl, and I had to use my pistols; but I made good 
my retreat to the bay, found a boat, and escaped upon an 
English ship which was on the point of sailing. I know not 
whether Schryner died or not, but I lost his chart in the 
confusion and heat of the subsequent struggle, and heard 


The Cross and the Tale 


297 

nothing either of it or of him till we picked up Jan Van 
Wyk with the copy done in secret ink, even to the red and 
wavy line which represented my vengeance on Obed Schryner. 

“ All this happened years ago, and though I had never forgotten 
my promise to the Portuguese, I saw no chance of fulfilling it 
till my steps were guided that snowy night to your cottage, 
where I found a man who could speak Dutch, and on the table 
the book of Rhazes, the Arabian. It was plainly a summons, my 
lad, and you know the rest. Let me say this only, you and 
Jacob Little have come thus far, but even now you may take 
back your plighted word, if you will. To you I took a fancy, 
the smith I accounted a useful ally, for there is no saying what 
may happen if we reach the plateau beyond the swamp. The 
idea gripped me to have you both as comrades, and I allow that, 
on the whole, you have proved yourselves trusty and stout¬ 
hearted. But what has passed may be as nothing to what lies 
ahead of us, so make your choice ! Have you a stomach for 
the venture, or have you not ? Tell me here and now, Doctor 
Henry Mortimer.” 

Bewildered though I was by his tale, scarce crediting his 
narration, there was that in the man which led me to do as 
I did. Never a word did I say, but reached out my hand 
to him. 

‘ A lad after mine own heart ! ” cried Corkran, as he wrung 
my fingers till the very joints thereof ached and were stiff. 


CHAPTER XXV 


THE PAINTED CAFES AND THE POISON POTS 

There could be no doubt about Jacob Little’s decision. 

“ I go to find the Dutchman,” said he, and lapsed into silence. 

As for myself, I begged Corkran to tell me more of his life, of 
his early days, and his slaving experiences, but he was not to be 
influenced. 

“ As you once said yourself, Doctor Harry,” he replied, with a 
wink, “ I shall take the matter ad avizandum, at present; ’tis time 
we were upon the move.” 

Ere we left the kraal we got news of Jan Van Wyk for the first 
time. Rumour spreads quickly, and in some mysterious way 
amongst the tribes, and so there came word of a white man 
travelling northwards. We had been ten days’ journey behind 
him at Bubolongo, and it appeared that we had not gained upon 
him. Consequently Corkran was all impatience to resume the 
march, and though the Amakunze were much perturbed at our 
departure and entreated us to stay, we bade them farewell. They 
accompanied us for miles, singing our praises, decked out with 
feathers, having their faces smeared with red ochre in our honour, 
and great was the lamentation when we parted with them. A 
kindly, jovial, laughter-loving folk are the Amakunze of the 
uplands of Terra de Natal. 

Thereafter we travelled fast, crossed a broad and clear river, 
traversed very rough and broken ground strewn with loose red 
stones, dotted with thorn-bushes and prickly and pulpy plants, 
and where grew also the aloes of which a cholagogue is made. 

agS 


The Painted Caves and the Poison Pots 299 

Here were many lions, whose roaring we heard in the darkness, 
but they did not seek to molest us, and were scared by our camp¬ 
fires. We had to spend several nights in the open, the country 
being sparsely peopled, and kraals few and far between. Nearer 
and nearer we drew to the huge hill rampart, and were at last 
amongst its spurs and outliers in the land of the Amahlubi, the 
tribe amongst whom had lived the white woman of Cardoso’s 
tale. 

They are rich in cattle, and the men rich in wives, while they 
are more warlike than the southern folk, and greater in stature. 
They have need of these qualities, for the Abatwa are their 
neighbours, and no man can rest secure when his oxen are within 
reach of the thieving pigmies, the Ishmaelites of the desert. 

It was with some trepidation that we advanced upon the fast¬ 
nesses of those latter, mounting ever higher and higher. The air 
was glorious, warm yet keen, and scented with the odour of dry 
grass and of wild-flowers. The prospect away behind us and 
below us was of great extent, a wide reach of swelling rises and 
level plain, from which cropped up hillocks and mountains, the 
most with rounded tops or summits like the backs of hogs. We 
could note silvery threads where rivers coursed, and away in the 
far distance could see blue hill piled on blue hill, while over all 
stretched a sky of the purest sapphire and upon all a mighty sun 
cast his cheering and searching rays. About us and in front of us 
rose green mountain slopes with kloofs full of forest growth, with 
bare and beetling cliff's, with patches of dull red rock, with much 
of bird life, and the home of snakes and lizards and the barking 
baboon. I would I had time to write of trifles and tell of how 
we had to fight a troop of these dog-faced monkeys, and of Jacob’s 
prowess and Corkran’s shooting; but greater matters call for men¬ 
tion, to wit, our encounter with the Bushmen, and what befell in 
their painted caves. 

Our way led towards a gap in the mountain chain, a pass 
amongst the peaks. Here and there we followed the tracks of 
deer and other animals, but for the most part trod the grass, 
guided upwards by small streams, which dashed down from the 
higher levels, and whose banks were thick with bushes. Our hope 


300 The Golden Kingdom 

was that we might see none of these Abatwa, for they are a race of 
nomads, here to-day, gone to-morrow, lodging in caves, where such 
exist, and at other times making themselves huts of tree branches 
thatched with loose reeds. Such was not the case. Indeed, our 
good fortune now wholly deserted us, and, in the first place, we 
were overtaken by the most violent of tempests. Heavy clouds, 
black and threatening, piled themselves above the mountain-tops 
and drifted towards us against the breeze; there came a rolling of 
thunder and bright lightning flashes ran zig-zag and crackling 
athwart the sky. The very insects ceased to chirp and drum in 
the grass, a solemn stillness brooded all about us, and nearer and 
yet nearer swung the advance guard of the heavy vapour masses. 
Presently the storm broke in all its fury. A fierce, hot wind 
struck us full in the face, and then there descended a deluge of 
rain with drops large as hazel nuts. Rattling crashes shook the 
solid earth, and echoed, growling and rumbling, away amongst the 
hills. The fire played hither and thither, and as the light faded 
became all the more visible and vivid. In a trice we were soaked 
to the very skin, and forced to crawl onwards with bodies bent 
and eyes half closed. It was not safe to seek the cover of the 
bush beside running water, and so we struggled on till we came 
upon a place where was a stretch of rock, a bare and lofty cliff. 
We crouched at its base till a shout from Corkran apprised us of 
a discovery. He had found the entrance to a cave. It was a 
narrow slit, lengthy and irregular in outline, but we quickly passed 
through it and found ourselves in a rock chamber, gloomy, and in 
parts dripping with wet from the roof. Far back in its recesses 
we discovered an overhanging ledge beneath which the ground 
was dry and sandy, and there we sat us down, wearied and wet, 
to pass the long and comfortless night. Corkran, however, was 
not satisfied till we had built a rampart of stones breast high at 
the mouth of the cavern. There was need of care. Our powder 
was damp, our muskets therefore useless, and we knew not who 
were the tenants of this place, which might be the home of wild 
beasts or wilder men. At present, as far as we could tell, it was 
empty, silent as the grave, save for the occasional splash of dripping 
drops from its invisible roof. Corkran himself mounted guard at 


The Painted Caves and the Poison Pots 301 

the entrance and there remained till midnight, when he roused the 
negro, who took his place. 

The night passed quietly, and, despite our sorry plight, we 
slept, for we were wearied with our exertions. We slept, I say, 
till the dull light of early morn came filtering in through the open¬ 
ing. It revealed little to my eyes, for it did not penetrate far 
within the cave, and could not dispel the gloom which shrouded 
us. Drowsy and loth to move, being both stiff and sore, I lay 
upon my side and gazed idly at the negro’s form outlined against 
the wedge-shaped patch of grey sky, which showed above our 
rampart. Corkran and the smith yet slumbered, and the water- 
drops still gathered and fell and sputtered on the floor. I counted 
them, one—two—three—four, and noted the regularity with which 
the sound of their impact recurred, and then my attention was 
directed elsewhere, for somewhere above me, somewhere in the 
darkness, somewhere high up in the cave wall, I heard something 
moving. Something, nay rather, many things, a gentle pattering, 
a rustling, a coming and going, nothing to which I could give a 
name, but beyond doubt caused by animals, living creatures of 
some sort or other. The sounds apparently did not reach Corro- 
bee, he did not turn his head; but, leaning on the ridge of the 
stone wall, looked out from the cave for coming danger. 

There was a stealthiness about these movements which alarmed 
me, and I shook Corkran by the shoulder. He woke at once, and 
gripped the haft of the knife in his belt, but with a low “ hist ” I 
enjoined the need of silence, and together we listened. The 
noises had ceased; strain our ears as we might we could hear no 
sound, and I was about to explain to my comrade why I had 
wakened him, when from above us there came a single, twanging 
note, such as is made by a tense cord vibrating to and fro. 

Now, at the moment I was again looking towards the negro, 
and thus I saw a dark speck flash across the sky-space towards 
him. Next instant he uttered a cry of pain and turned himself 
about. It was as though a wasp had stung him in the back. 
I was about to spring to my feet when Corkran forced me down¬ 
wards with all his strength. 

“ Lie still for your life ! ” he whispered, and then I understood. 


302 The Golden Kingdom 

The negro had been struck by the poisoned arrow of a 
Bushman. 

I have read tales of courage and devotion, but I can pit against 
them the true history of the death of this poor savage. He could 
not tell whence came the secret attack; he knew his peril, for we 
had impressed upon him the dangers we ran, but he knew also 
that if he came back to us we would be discovered and perish 
with him. 

“ Massas ! ” he cried ; “ I dies, but I dies here. Dey not 
finds you, dey not finds you ! ” 

Thus he shouted in his pigeon English, and though I would 
fain have gone to him I could not deny the wisdom of Corkran’s 
words. 

“You cannot aid him,” he growled into my ear; “’tis no use, 
lie still, for your life ! ” 

A second bow-string twanged, and again Corrobee started. 
A third sounded, and he twisted his body this way and that. It 
was pitiable to see him writhing against the patch of sky, but 
presently he groaned and sank down within the rampart. 

“ Poor devil! ” muttered Corkran in his throat, almost as if he 
sobbed, and I could tell he was in a fury. 

My only hope was that our faithful black did not suffer 
greatly, and that the poison was as quick as it was sure. The 
light was faint, but we could see his body stretched out upon the 
floor of the cave, and twitching at intervals. At last it 
straightened out and stiffened, and as it did so, Corkran woke 
Jacob Little and clapped a hand upon his mouth, for the smith 
was given to prodigious yawning. There we lay, the three of 
us, under a ledge far back in the dark recesses of the cave, and 
waited for what would happen next, while every moment the 
light grew stronger and spread farther within the rock chamber. 
Remember our powder was yet wet, we had no useful weapons 
save our knives and hatchets and Jacob’s hammer, and the cave 
harboured those who could slay from a distance, as, alas ! we 
knew. The question was, where were they, and would they 
discover our presence ? I confess my heart beat a tattoo on my 
ribs as I cowered and waited. 


The Painted Caves and the Poison Pots 303 

All at once I perceived a figure hanging by its hands and 
outstretched arms from the wall, full twelve feet from the ground, 
on the same side of the cave as ourselves, and near its entrance. 
For a moment I was not certain whether it was man or monkey, 
so dwarfed and ugly did it appear. It loosed its hold, dropped 
to the floor of the cave, and with a crouching gait approached 
the body of the negro. I saw then it was indeed a human being, 
a pigmy, crisp-haired savage, naked save for a few pieces of fur, 
and carrying a tiny bow in one hand. When erect the man was 
scarce taller than a white boy of twelve years, and looked 
deformed, his head being sunk between his hunched shoulders, 
his chest narrow, his body paunched, and his lower limbs lean, 
though thick at the joints. 

He stooped over Corrobee, pushed the body with his foot, and 
then, raising his head, uttered a cry like that of a wild animal. 
By way of answer four others, bearing a close resemblance to the 
first, appeared hanging to the ledge, and dropped, as he had done. 
More followed, and they began to talk in a guttural, clicking 
speech, and utter noises indicative of surprise. It was clear that 
none of them had ever seen a negro. 

Our position was now dangerous in the extreme, for presently 
there were a couple of dozen of these hideous dwarfs swarming 
about poor Corrobee’s corpse like jackals round the carcase of an 
ox. We scarce dared to breathe, and sat and watched them as 
they gesticulated and examined our stone rampart, and leapt upon 
it, and brandished their bows. Every instant we dreaded lest 
some of them should stray towards us. True, we might account 
for several, and, had our firearms been available, might have 
wreaked vengeance on them for the murder of the negro, but we 
were at a disadvantage. To be sure their darts might be unable 
to penetrate our clothing, but of that we could not be certain, 
and in any case our hands and faces were exposed. A scratch 
might mean death. Had we not seen evidence of the deadliness 
of their poison ? It was hard to say how we were to escape. 
The ledge above us was inaccessible, the cave wall being smooth 
and affording no foothold. I was puzzled as to how these 
Bushmen had reached it, but the matter was speedily explained. 


304 The Golden Kingdom 

Drip, drip! The drops splashed at intervals, and then from 
the darkness behind us came the noise of some one or something 
scrambling among rocks. I felt Corkran move, and, glancing at 
him, I was able to perceive he was on the alert. He had got 
softly upon his feet, and now squatted on his hams, a bare knife 
in one fist, his whole aspect that of a cat ready to spring upon 
her prey. 

A coughing and grunting reached our ears, and then from 
out the gloom glided the squat figure of a cave-dweller. He 
did not see us in our recess, and ran forward to join his tribes¬ 
men, carrying a bow and having a furry skin depending from his 
shoulders. He passed us, and with one silent, speedy spring old 
Nicholas was on him. I saw an arm rise and sink, I heard a 
gurgle in a throat, and Corkran was again with us, and with him 
the corpse of the Bushman, whom he had stabbed to the heart. 

There was something horrible in this stealthy attack, in thus 
taking a life unawares, but it was a stern necessity, and, what is more, 
the thing he brought back to us seemed scarcely human. Just 
then, however, there was no time to examine it. Handing me 
the bow, and taking the body on his shoulders, Corkran whispered 
to us to follow him, and led the way farther back into the cave. 
We advanced cautiously, and trod very softly, the ground fortu¬ 
nately being smooth and not cumbered with stones. It was not 
so dark but that we could see each other’s shapes, and Jacob and 
I crept after Captain Nicholas, who groped onwards, and at last 
came to a halt. He had discovered a steep and rocky path 
leading upwards to the ledge. Still carrying the Bushman, whom, 
as he afterwards told me, he intended to use as a shield if 
attacked, Corkran began the ascent, and here we had need of 
greater care, owing to loose stones and the noise our shoes made 
upon the rock. 

It was a difficult task, for Jacob and I were carrying Corrobee’s 
loads as well as our own, and the faint glow of light about us 
served but to increase our hesitancy and make us imagine pitfalls 
and dangers which did not exist. Happily we met none of the 
enemy, and gained the ledge, which now turned out to be a 
broad platform. It narrowed towards the cave’s mouth, and that 


The Painted Caves and the Poison Pots 305 

portion of it was plainly visible, as was the greater part of its 
edge. Away back towards the rock wall it was shrouded in the 
gloom which yet possessed so much of the cavern. 

We quickly perceived this was where the savages were accus¬ 
tomed to live, no doubt as a precaution against beasts of prey. 
The ashes of a fire rested on a level part of the rock ; there were 
several piles of bones and deer horns, and here and there tree 
branches were heaped together and hides spread out; but what 
made Corkran drop his burden and hurry forward was the sight 
of a row of wooden pots ranged close to the cave wall towards 
the other extremity of the platform, just where it narrowed to a 
ledge. He took care to keep out of sight of the crowd below us, 
and, on reaching the pots, he knelt and examined their contents, 
and then returned, bringing one of the vessels with him. 

“ Ho, ho ! ” he whispered ; “ here is the wherewithal; now we 
have them.” 

“ What is it ? ” I asked. 

“Their arrow poison,” said he; “and we have also a bow and 
a sufficiency of darts, but come farther back a moment, lest they 
see and hear us.” 

We retreated a space and then made our depositions. 

Corkran was set upon holding the path by which we had 
climbed, it being his purpose to shoot the enemy one by one 
should they attempt the ascent. I feared his aim would be 
uncertain in the dark, but he vowed he could scarce miss, and in 
any case could creep to the edge and let fly at them as they 
passed below him. 

“No doubt,” said he, “there is danger, but I warrant you the 
odds are with us, and our poor nigger will have company ere 
long. I do not think,” he added, “that they can board us 
forrard, cats though they be ; but do you, Jacob, stretch yourself 
out yonder, so that they cannot reach you with their darts, and if 
a head comes cropping over the bulwarks, deal with it as though 
it were an horseshoe, my lad.” 

The smith nodded, and crawled forward on his hands and 
knees to his appointed place. 

“As for you, Doctor Harry,” continued our leader, “get the 


20 


306 The Golden Kingdom 

powder sprinkled on the driest place you can find. The sun 
will be up presently, and there may be a chance of its drying, 
only as you love me move quietly, the lighter it is the better for 
us. If you get a chance you also can crack a skull with the butt 
of a firelock.” 

So saying, he crept back to the top of the path and made ready 
his weapon, which was fashioned of a tough and pliant wood, 
tipped at either end with bone, and having as cord a string 
of dried tendon. It was a very miserable and paltry-looking bow, 
but the danger lay in the little shafts, with smeared tips, which we 
had found in a wallet of skin fastened about the Bushman’s waist. 

I had a moment wherein to examine this native, and found his 
countenance both crafty and repulsive. The upper part of his 
face was very broad, especially between the ears, but below that 
level his visage was diminutive and shrunken. His chin did not 
project, and what is curious is the fact that he lacked ear-lobes. 
He had no beard, but his trunk was hairy and his skeleton was 
composed of small bones very rough on their surfaces, as I could 
feel, for the creature was to my mind half-starved. I left him 
lying, and, after spreading out the powder from our flasks, I took 
a cautious survey of his kindred, who still swarmed about the 
negro and had begun pulling the rampart to pieces and prying 
between the stones. Amongst them were several women, even 
more hideous than the men, and I am free to confess that the 
whole crew looked like deformed fiends. 

The sight of them shocked and sickened me. To such degra¬ 
dation might man descend! Since then, however, I have been 
pleased to imagine him as having ascended from this low level, 
a more comforting reflection, whether or not it be the case. 

What I could not understand was how our entrance during the 
night had not disturbed the Abatwa. We had talked freely, built 
up a stone wall, and made sufficient noise to wake the soundest 
sleeper, while these strange beings were born hunters, beyond 
doubt keen-sighted and quick ot hearing. Further, they had 
given no sign of their presence throughout the dark hours. What 
wonder, therefore, that I was puzzled ? 

I have said that these savages were hunters. As a conse- 


The Painted Caves and the Poison Pots 307 

quence, it was not long ere they made a discovery as soon as they 
had demolished our ramparts, and thereby let more light into the 
cave. They detected the imprints of our footsteps, the marks of 
our shoes. At once their excitement redoubled ; they ran hither 
and thither like dogs nosing out a trail, and then, bent double, 
began to trace us back into the cave. It was exceeding curious 
to watch them from above, and look out away beyond them to 
the green slopes visible through the gap in the cliff; but the crisis 
was approaching, and dragging myself to the edge of the platform, 

I lay perdu , now and then cautiously raising my head to get a 
view of them, and having a musket ready by my side. Every 
moment more light was entering the cavern, and stretching farther 
within it, so that I noted the opposite wall was smooth, and could 
not be climbed and also that upon it were divers figures painted 
in a dull red pigment. I had not time to take stock of them, for 
the savages speedily reached the place where Corkran had stabbed 
one of their number. Thereupon they set up a great wailing and 
crying, while some of them dropped upon their knees, searched 
the ground, and then ran backwards towards the light to see the 
nature of the sticky fluid which clung to their fingers. That they 
could smell blood was evident. As hounds surround the spot 
where a fox has been killed, and sniff eagerly and yelp and 
whimper, so those cave-dwellers crowded about the place where 
the tribesman had met his death, and clicked with their tongues 
and cried shrilly. One of them discovered where we had rested 
under the overhanging ledge, and they swarmed in beneath me, 
jabbering and gesticulating. I drew back and held my breath. 
Their next movement would be to scale the path. 

So far Corkran had given no sign of his presence. Each 
minute passed and gone favoured us, for we could see better 
and yet remain as before—invisible, or nearly so. Corkran, indeed, 
aad the post of danger, for he was open to attack by any ascending 
as we had done. Still, he was so far concealed by a boulder and 
a projecting spur of the rock wall, and had the advantage of 
position. I could just see his form, shadowy and indistinct, and 
from his attitude knew he had an arrow on the string ready for 
the boldest of the Bushmen. 


308 The Golden Kingdom 

Presently the cries of grief and dismay changed to those of 
anger. The creatures snarled with rage, and I could hear them 
scuffling out from below the ledge. 

“ Now,” said I to myself, “ will they have the pluck to face the 
unknown ? ” 

My question was speedily answered. These Abatwa, animals 
rather than men, had the courage of the unreasoning brute, and 
next moment a bow-string twanged. Corkran had launched his 
shaft amongst them. The sound was followed by a shriek of 
pain and terror, and some of them sped down the cave and 
gathered at its mouth. The chances were they knew nothing of 
white men, and this sudden assault upon them with their own 
weapons added to their fear and surprise. I lowered my head 
and lay pressed close to the rock—a wise precaution, for several 
of them loosed off arrows which sped harmlessly above me, and 
struck the cave wall at my back. They were shooting at random 
and wasting their darts. 

Again Corkran’s bow hummed, and I knew he had not missed 
his mark, but certain of them gathered in the deeper recesses of 
the cavern, and began shooting in his direction, so that their tiny 
shafts pattered on the platform, flying past Corkran, who cowered 
behind the boulder and bided his time. All at once some of 
those who had fled sought to create a diversion. They ran across 
the cave and sprang upwards with the greatest agility, intent on 
catching hold of the margin of the ledge at the part where it was 
the least distance above the ground, the spot guarded by Jacob 
Little. It was full twelve feet of a leap as I have said, and these 
Bushmen were tiny creatures, but so lithe and active were they 
that a couple succeeded in their effort. Ere they could make 
another movement the smith, even as he lay at full length, brought 
his hammer down in four crunching strokes upon the four separate 
sets of black fingers clutching at the rock. It was enough. Two 
yells rang out, and the pair who had thus striven to gain a footing, 
dropped hastily to earth, and I fancied they would be unable to 
handle their bows for many a day. It was then an idea came to 
me, and, turning round and crawling backwards, I reached the 
body of the man Corkran had slain, and dragged it and myself 


The Painted Caves and the Poison Pots 309 

to the verge. Gripping it by the loose skin of the back, I thrust 
it upwards and purposely made a little noise to attract the attention 
of our adversaries. My ruse answered admirably. A dozen 
strings were plucked, and well-nigh the same number of arrows 
thudded softly into the skin of the dead man. I gave a cry and 
let him fall backwards, the while I distinctly heard Corkran 
chuckle in his corner. 

This plan of mine was one after his own heart. I picked out 
no less than eight of those venomous shafts, for the Abatwa were 
admirable marksmen, and shifting my position I again raised the 
body. For a second time I cheated the pigmies, and harvested 
another six of their arrows. I felt I was drawing their teeth and 
waging a bloodless battle. Great therefore was my pride. Once 
more I sought to deceive them, but they had grown wily, and 
those far back in the cave never stirred, while the rest gathered 
under the shelter of the ledge. 

A dead silence fell upon us, broken only by some one in a last 
agony, and the intermittent splash of the water-drops. To tell 
the truth I began to feel some pity for these miserable, ill-fed 
wretches, to whom we had meted out a stern justice. It was 
speedily dispelled, for to my surprise and horror a dart went 
whistling past my head, coming, and here was the strange thing, 
directly from behind me. We had been taken in the rear. It 
was evident there must be some other opening into the cave, and 
that the numbers of the Bushmen had been reinforced. Scarcely 
had I realised the situation when I was struck upon the back. 
Fortunately, the tiny dart did not penetrate to the skin, but for 
all that I was in a quandary. I dared not turn for fear of exposing 
my face, and so I uttered a shout to warn my comrades, and 
made myself as small as possible, dragging my coat about my 
head, and then keeping my hands below me. The posture was 
both uncomfortable and undignified, while I could not be certain 
but that an arrow might strike me with such force as to inflict a 
wound. A third missile hit the sole of one of my shoes, and I 
began to wish I had never seen Corkran, much less become his 
travelling companion. 

The cold fit, however, speedily passed, and I resolved to make 


310 The Golden Kingdom 

an end of the intolerable suspense. A sudden spring and a dash 
at the lurking foe was better than remaining to be a target for 
poisoned darts, and if my movements were rapid I might escape 
being wounded. Consequently, I sprang to my feet, turned 
myself about, and received full in the chest the body of a 
Bushman. 

For once Jacob’s vision had served him well, and in the semi¬ 
darkness he had seen what to me was invisible. He had risen, 
rushed to the back of the platform, and now appeared to be 
dealing very effectively with the foe. At the moment I did not 
appreciate his efforts, for the savage, who otherwise would have 
driven against the wall opposite, struck me with the force of a 
battering-ram. Instinctively I gripped him, but was swept off 
the ledge, and in a twinkling was on the broad of my back upon 
the floor of the cavern, dazed, and with the breath well-nigh 
shaken out of me. The wonder is that I was not killed, or at 
least sorely injured. By great good fortune I fell flat and on 
a sandy patch, but, considering the height, and that I am a 
large and heavy man, my escape was remarkable. Heaven 
knows I had no time to wonder how my bones had fared, for 
with a yell the wh ole horde of pigmies, who had been sheltering 
beneath the ledge, hurled themselves upon me. Well was it 
for me then that I had caught hold of the Bushman. I 
covered myself with him as best I could, and, stunned though 
I was, fought desperately for life. Haply they did not use 
their bows at such close quarters, but stabbed at me with knives 
made of bone. My legs were my vulnerable part, and I 
received several wounds in the fleshy part of both thighs, but 
I managed to protect my body and face. Still, the struggle 
could not have lasted long. I was only half conscious, but can yet 
recall the horror of feeling myself surrounded by these dwarfed 
fiends, of hearing their shrill cries, of striving to ward off their 
blows with the writhing, slippery body which I grasped fiercely 
with both hands. I feared the knives were poisoned, and this 
added to my distress of mind, for all the time I was thinking fast 
and furiously. To tell the truth, I have but a confused idea of 
what happened thereafter, and so must relate the tale as Corkran 


The Painted Caves and the Poison Pots 311 

recounted it to me when we were delivered from this most press¬ 
ing of perils. 

It seems that Jacob did not observe what had happened to 
me, but dealt with a second and third savage as he had meant 
to deal with the first. One he fastened upon before he could 
stir, and sent him hurtling to his death against the rock, so that 
he fell close beside me, a disfigured, twitching mass. The other 
he caught by the legs as he was creeping into a hole which opened 
on the platform, and served him in the same way. A fourth came 
crawling out of the rock tunnel only to meet a similar fate. Such 
slaughter was enough to terrify the boldest— these repeated thud¬ 
dings away above them, this continued dropping of the limp and 
bruised and lifeless forms of their kindred, was too much even for 
these primitive and beast-like men. The great smith was roused, 
and the lust of battle had gripped him. I had told him of 
Corrobee’s devotion and fortitude at the time of the shipwreck, 
and he had seen the negro’s body lying where he had been 
treacherously slain. Jacob Little, kind of heart and placid in 
nature, would never on his own account have wreaked so terrible 
a vengeance on hapless savages, but he took good care that our 
faithful black should not quit this world unattended. As it was, 
he came very near sending me to keep the negro company, 
though, to be sure, he made amends by striking terror into the 
hearts of the filthy company who sought to hack the life out of 
me with their knives of bone. To add to their discomfiture, old 
Nicholas fell upon them with the hatchet, and, imagining I was 
struggling with the wretched being whose body I used as a shield, 
he shore off the creature’s head by one shrewd stroke, whereat, 
overcome with horror, and already utterly exhausted, I lost what 
little senses I had left. 


CHAPTER XXVI 


THE GREAT SIVA MR 

It was broad daylight, even within the cave, when I returned 
to life; and I discovered that Corkran, with that instinct he 
possessed of grasping an opportunity or taking advantage of 
anything likely to aid him, had bestowed me on the floor, so 
that I received upon the face the heavy water-drops which fell 
steadily from the roof. The back of my head rested in a pool, 
while the frequent splashings on my countenance had speedily 
served to rouse me. I found that I was full of aches and smart- 
ings, so much so that I was content to lie very still, and do 
nothing but avoid the drops striking me upon the eyes the while 
I sucked at the trickle which coursed towards my chin and 
gathered on my lip hairs, for I was exceeding thirsty. For a time 
I was extremely vague as to my whereabouts, and had no clear 
idea of what had happened till Captain Nicholas himself came 
and stood over me. 

“ Stap my vitals ! ” said he; “ but y’are as tough as a shark¬ 
skin, Harry, my lad. How goes it ? ” 

“If you mean my head,” I answered feebly, “why—round and 
round,” for, indeed, I was as giddy as a drunken man. 

“No matter,” he chuckled, “you have come round like your 
head, so don’t round on me for clapping you under this fountain, 
which is like one of the tortures of the Inquisition in Spain.” 

He laughed heartily at his play on the words, and called out to 
Jacob to come and lift me. The smith did so with infinite care, 
and bestowed me on the grass outside the cavern, where I lay 



The Great Swamp 313 

and drank in the keen mountain air, and closed my eyes and 
hearkened to the wind rustling beside me, and the joyous chirp 
ings of a small bird which hopped among the stones. The horror 
of the morning was forgotten, and I was content to know I yet 
lived, until I recalled my fear of the Bushmen’s poison. Corkran, 
howbeit, reassured me. By way of precaution, he himself had 
sucked my wounds, but there was no trace of the deadly drug on 
any of the knives the cave-dwellers had left behind them in their 
flight. A panic had fastened upon them, the women being first 
affected, and they had scuttled from the scene of strife with 
Corkran hard at their heels, though he had been careful not to 
follow them beyond the cave mouth. By degrees I heard the 
whole story, and learned that Corkran, venturesome as ever, had 
explored the rock tunnel, and without harm to himself had dis¬ 
covered that it communicated with another and smaller chamber 
in the rock, also adorned with paintings. 

And here let me say something as to these pigmies who so 
nearly made an end of me. Since those days I have seen more 
of them and their habits, and am convinced they are the original 
dwellers in the land. They have little to commend them ; and, 
indeed, their miserable stature and scurfy skins and low develop¬ 
ment ceases to be a matter for wonder, when one reflects that 
their customary food consists of bulbs, and of insects and the 
lower reptiles. Thus they devour locusts and caterpillars, and 
account a tortoise a dainty. Some say they eat snakes, but this 
I question ; for I believe they hunt serpents merely to extract the 
venom, which they use in the manufacture of their arrow poison. 
At times they succeed in slaying a mammal, and then are very 
disgusting in their orgies, highly esteeming the entrails, though 
they reject the gall, and, curiously, enough, four pieces of the 
meat from the inner sides of the thighs. 

I have already sufficiently described their appearance, but the 
pity is they have lost the art of pigment-painting. The drawings 
done in red upon the cave wall were the works of their ancestors, 
and yet were wonderfully vivid, and very excellent representations 
of what they sought to show. There were pictures of animals, 
principally those of the chase—such as deer or antelope—and one 


314 The Golden Kingdom 

complete hunting-scene, cunningly rendered, wherein figured men 
with bows and having dogs with them. I have read that the 
tablets of many ancient and cultured peoples are ofttimes lewd 
and repulsive, but I am bound to confess the products of the 
imagination of this savage painter were free from such defects. 
Further, they were instinct with life; his animals looked as though 
they ran, his men as though they walked; he had been in his day 
an artist of no mean repute. 

From the fact that I am able to describe these wonders, it will 
be apparent that I recovered, and such was the case, my wounds 
(thanks to the excellence and dryness of the climate) healing with 
a marvellous rapidity. Corkran and Jacob Little had rolled a 
boulder to the mouth of the passage, so that we were safe from 
attack in that direction. As, however, our powder was rapidly 
drying, and as we could rear a stout barricade at the cave mouth, 
we no longer feared the Abatwa, who in any case had been so 
roughly handled that they were not likely to return. Jacob had 
slain three, Corkran had accounted for four, and though I had 
none to my credit, yet I had played my part in the fight, and was 
given some praise for my ruse, though old Nicholas vowed I had 
taken my cue from him. I was glad none of the women were 
among the slain, and was not sorry that no death lay at my door, 
for it is a solemn thing to take a human life, even if it be that of 
a dwarfed and naked savage. 

Considering everything, we had been very mercifully preserved ; 
and as soon as I was able to travel, quitted this spot of ill-omen, 
leaving behind us our faithful black and the bodies of his slayers. 
Corkran, who ever made the best of things, accounted the whole 
circumstance fortunate, for we secured several bows and darts, 
and a supply of the poison, thus saving our powder and shot, 
which might be all important when we arrived at the city with the 
walls of gold. We were still far from it, according to Corkran’s 
reckoning, and though we had no other adventure of note amongst 
the mountains, we were hard put to it when we reached the barren 
lands at their base, and sallied out upon a sea of grass. It rippled 
like waves as the breeze swept it, and the light played upon it 
cheerfully, and its smell was kindly and heartsome, but it was 


The Great Swamp 315 

void of water, and our sufferings were great. A thunderstorm, 
during which fell torrents of rain, saved us, even though we had to 
shelter from it in one of these great earth-clefts which are 
common, deep trenches in the red soil with channelled and 
moulded sides, and not infrequently the abode of beasts of prey. 

Again we reached hilly ground where was little game, so that 
hunger gnawed our vitals. The country lacked inhabitants, and 
was swept with violent winds which drove across it, laden with a 
stinging and suffocating dust that no man could face. I might 
write much of our wayfaring—of the shifts to which we were put, 
of our search for food, and the dangers we ran from lions and 
mountain leopards; but these be side issues, which served but to 
harden our bodies and strengthen our minds and quicken our 
brains, the while they bound us more and more in the bonds 
of amity. We discovered no trace of the miserable tribe which 
Corkran had encountered years before, but at last drew near the 
wooded country, which, on the south, bounded the pestilent 
swamp. It was then I took counsel with myself, and consulted 
with Corkran. From what he had observed on his last journey 
thither, he was of opinion that one night must, in any case, 
be passed amongst the marshes, so great was their extent. 

“ If we start on the morning of one day,” said he, “ and travel 
steadily, I allow we might gain the cliffs after daybreak on the 
second.” 

“You are certain,” I asked, “that these stinging gnats bite only 
during the night ? ” 

“ As certain as I am that they breed and carry the fever.” 

“ ’Tis indeed remarkable that Rhazes should speak of the 
natives coating their bodies.” 

“ Ay, ay, Doctor Harry; we are ever too ready to cry : ‘ Lo ! 
we be the people, and wisdom shall die with us! * These 
ancients were not the fools we think them ; and we shall do 
well to look for this tree with red berries and a pulpy leaf, of 
which he speaks.” 

Now, though I have not mentioned the matter, the Arabian, in 
one passage, entered fully into the description of the plant from 
which the gum was derived. Both Corkran and I had read that 


The Golden Kingdom 


316 

it was smooth of stem, save at the junction of its several parts; 
that its leaves were rounded at the tip, doubly ribbed in the 
centre, and very thick and fleshy; and that it bore a profusion 
of red and wax-like berries, which grew in bunches and yielded a 
sticky juice. It was, so said the writing, a lean tree, growing in 
shady parts where the ground was wet. Further, the book had it 
that some believed it exuded an oil which floated upon the surface 
of any water. The Dutch physician who had translated the work 
had, on his own account, added a pious note pointing out the 
wonderful care of the Creator, and citing the docken and the 
nettle, and how certain poisons have their very antidotes as 
bed-fellows. 

We had read all this with interest, but I confess that till 
Corkran had supplied the clue I could see no sense in such 
precautions as the barbarians were said to take. I had been 
taught, and firmly believed, that fevers were bred of humours, 
of exhalations, of the materies morbi , and at times were sent 
upon us as a judgment; but here was a new theory ! Was I to 
scoff at this layman, to jeer at his notion that tiny flies with 
spotted wings, night-rovers and blood-suckers, were the causa 
causans ? More than once had I seen grave illness follow the 
bite of a dung fly; a high fever result from the attack of wasp 
or bee. Still, it is easy to err, to attribute everything to that 
which is most obvious, to jump to a conclusion instead of weigh¬ 
ing the pros and cons, and dealing logically with the whys and 
wherefores. 

For all that there could be no harm in putting into execution 
this curious procedure, provided we discovered the lean tree of 
the swamps. The very finding of it would be a strong argument 
in favour of this theory which I was busily working out within my 
brain. Another thought arose. Granted these gnats infected the 
blood, and thereby the whole body by their stings or bites, was it 
not possible they might cause the fever in other ways ? Death 
was common to them, as to all living things, and their foul 
bodies, it seemed to me, must at times fall into water. Now, 
were this water drunk, might not the deadly essence be absorbed; 
might it not gain entrance to the system, and so cause the disease? 


The Great Swamp 317 

I have said that this is no learned treatise, but surely the matter 
is simple and full of an abiding interest! I doubted whether any 
truth lurked in this idea, for it is a fact that the Caffres of Terra 
de Natal when bitten by an imamba or other deadly serpent do 
not hesitate, but, having killed the reptile, slit it open and devour 
its gall, thereby recovering in many instances. Further, their 
witch doctors use serpents’ venom in their potions, for I have 
seen these prepared in the kraals of the Amakunze. 

I confess the matter was too deep for me, but, reasoning 
blindly, I came to the conclusion that it would be well to abstain 
from drinking any stagnant or stinking water, and to carry with 
us a supply from a water-course outside the jungle belt in which, 
as in the swamp, lurked the spotted flies. Corkran, who I grieve 
to say, was at times inclined to scoff at my knowledge of the 
healing art, forgetting what he owed to me in days past, thought 
but little of my notion. 

“Goto, Doctor Harry,” said he; “I have drunk water thick 
enough to stand upon, and vile enough to turn the stomach, and 
was never a whit the worse.” 

“ That,” said I, “ is no argument. For one thing, all men are 
not built on your lines.” 

“ For which,” he replied, “ they have my pity ; but let it be as 
you say, my lad, and we’ll see what results from it. I have no 
wish to again become the shivering and yellow wretch who quitted 
this region in the days when Cardoso lived.” 

A strange region it was when we reached it. The higher land 
was covered with a dense growth of thorn bushes through which 
we forced our way, following the tracks of animals, which were 
very numerous. It was also firm, stony, and coated with long 
coarse grass. We found a clear and rapid stream running 
towards the swamp, and filled our bottles of skin well-nigh to 
bursting. The ground rose and fell in a succession of low 
ridges, and our view was limited, so that night fell ere we gained 
the spot whence Corkran affirmed a sight of the cliffs and the 
walls which were built upon them could be obtained. 

“ The flies,” said he, “ haunt the lower levels; here we are 
safe.” 


318 The Golden Kingdom 

So it proved, for we passed the night in comfort and feasted 
royally on a water-buck which he shot in a patch of tall reeds 
by the side of the stream. 

All this time Jacob Little grew more and more taciturn, and 
complained occasionally of pain in the head. The poor fellow 
had fallen into a melancholy condition, and more than once 
told me that he was convinced he would leave his bones in 
this wilderness. 

“Nonsense, man!” I was wont to say, “if feeble folk like 
Corkran and I can worry through, surely a lad of your thews 
and sinews can meet and conquer difficulties! ” 

“I am willing enough, doctor,” he would reply sadly; “but 
I was better at my forge, and the quest grows wearisome.” 

“ Wait till you meet Meinheer Jan Van Wyk,” said Corkran, 
“ then you will have your hands full.” 

“Yes, I will wait,” answered the smith; and once more became 
stolid and imperturbable. 

1 was thankful that his brains seemed sound enough. His 
depression was largely due to the vastness of his surroundings. 
He felt, as he said, lost, a mere speck in this huge, desert land, 
and the condition taxed his mind. Accustomed to a petty life, 
a daily round, and to play therein a conspicuous part, his ideas 
could not keep pace with the new circumstances under which he 
found himself, and our giant was sore bewildered. His brain 
was slow, if tenacious, and events were happening too quickly for 
him. We were well to the north of Terra de Natal, while he, 
I verily believe, was beginning to realise his life at the Cape. 
Such a mental condition was indeed curious, but somewhat pain¬ 
ful to witness and irritating to the beholder. Now and then 
it put Corkran into a fume, and even disturbed my own 
accustomed equanimity. 

We were awake betimes, and as the sun sprang upwards on 
our right, gazed fixedly to the north. From the ridge the 
ground sloped away till far below and in front of us it was 
shrouded by a thick haze, a gathering of dense white vapour, 
which stretched like a floating cloud to the utmost limit of our 
vision. 


The Great Swamp 319 

“Yonder/’ said Corkran, “lies the deadly spot, but you will 
see it more plainly presently.” 

It was even as he said. The sun rose and cast his rays full 
upon this mantle of mist, and ere long it began to break and 
to dissolve. The sight was worth the witnessing. Long rents 
appeared in the vapour mass, which then began to swirl and eddy 
like water in a ship’s track. Anon, it heaved into hummocks, 
split lengthwise into streamers, and then rose in feathery spirals 
and wavy rings which floated hither and thither and vanished as 
the sun kissed them. As it thinned, tree-tops came cropping 
through it, and looked like islands in a sea, while in parts the 
light played upon it with the shifting colours of a mackerel’s skin, 
or a pigeon’s sheeny breast. It was truly marvellous, and I 
watched it spellbound till tree blended with tree, till beyond the 
tree belt appeared low-lying land, wherein glittered a multitude of 
water patches, and till Corkran raised his arm and pointed with 
his forefinger. 

“ Look ! ” said he. 

The last vestige of the mist away on the verge of the horizon 
suddenly parted in the midst like a curtain which is rent and rolled 
away to either side, disclosing a long line of high land, a mighty 
rampart of buttressed and precipitous cliff, dwarfed by the 
distance, but for all that bold in outline and very clearly defined. 
Yet this was not what caught the eye, was not the cause of the 
astonished cry I uttered, for set upon the edge of this lofty 
plateau rose what I took to be great walls of stone, having towers 
placed here and there with no attempt at symmetry or order. 
Even as I gazed the full rays of the morning sun struck upon the 
face of this headland, and illumined the structures wherewith it 
was crowned. 

Then, indeed, I doubted no longer. 

“ Look ! ” cried Corkran again; and lo ! the walls and towers 
were no more a blackish-grey as they had been. Wherever the 
sunlight bathed them they gleamed a golden yellow, the colour of 
minted guineas. There could be no doubt of it. Far off though 
they were, and how far I could not say, the whole picture was 
distinct. The air, now that the clinging and billowy masses of 


320 The Golden Kingdom 

mist were gone, was that clear and transparent ether common 
to those altitudes. My eyes could not deceive me—and I, 
Doctor Henry Mortimer, here and now affirm once again that 
the light which was reflected from these structures on the cliff- 
tops was of the purest amber. Nay, more, in places it sparkled 
and glowed. It was no dull gleam, but a glitter, such as 
might come from burnished metal, and that metal the most 
rare of all. 

“ ’Tis true ! ” I cried, “ beyond doubt, ’tis true ! ” 

“ Ay, ay,” said Corkran, “ but tarry a moment, and you will 
think your eyes have cheated you.” 

Again it was as he said. The sun mounting rapidly changed 
the direction of his rays, and no longer illumined the face of the 
distant plateau, at least, not to the same extent. In a moment 
the wonder was at an end. The broken line of wall remained, as 
did the towers, but both were now of the same hue as the cliff 
wall on which they were perched. The vision had come and 
gone, and had I stood there alone I could easily have imagined 
that my senses had deceived me. 

“ At sunset,” said Corkran, “ you will again be reassured. 
Yonder, I take it, lies the Golden Kingdom, the long-sought 
Empire of Monomotapa.” 

“ Forgive me my lack of faith,” said I. “ Your tale was hard 
to credit, but seeing is believing.” 

“ Did I not tell you, Doctor Harry,” answered Corkran, who 
was aquiver with excitement, “ that I was a man of my word ? No 
doubt my yarn sounded like those of Sir John de Mandeville, like 
a tale from the ‘Thousand and One Nights’; but I have proved 
my assertions, have I not ? ” 

“ You have indeed,” I answered solemnly; and we clasped 
hands upon it. 

Jacob could scarce share our joy and hope, for his sight could 
not pierce to such a distance, and so he had to be content with 
my account of those things I had seen. 

“ What next ? ” was all he said—“ what next ? ” and indeed 
there was a grain of sense in his solitary remark. 

Corkran, practical as ever, was ready with his answer. 


The Great Swamp 321 

“ I opine,” said he, “we must now find the tree with the crimson 
berries.” 

“Then we had better descend,” I replied, all eagerness and 
anxiety. 

“ Never a step do we go,” said my old comrade, “till we have 
put food into our stomachs. True, there is no danger from the 
gnats till night has fallen, but the air is foul and close and heavy 
even at the confines of the swamp, which itself is farther off than 
you would suppose.” 

“Good,” said I, and recalled a maxim of one of my learned 
teachers at Leyden, that to visit a fever case when famishing was 
a tempting of Providence. The same, I took it, would hold good 
for a place where a fever was bred ; consequently we broke our 
fast, and then, shouldering our loads, resumed our journey. 

It took us two good hours to reach the trees of the swamp, and 
the change in the atmosphere was remarkable. Clear, crisp, and 
of a stimulating warmth on the summit of the ridge, it changed at 
its base into a dank and heavy vapour, full of moisture, of great 
heat, and distressed us sorely. The sweat poured from us, we 
were stifled and oppressed, though the novelty of the place in 
some measure diverted our attention from the discomforts we 
endured. All along the margin of the marsh grew mangrove 
bushes with twisted stems set high upon tangled clumps of roots, 
which rose from the soaking soil and from pools covered with 
scum and a green slime. The water was full of spongy frogs’ 
spawn, and the air was the home of insects, especially of gaudy 
and gossamer-winged dragon flies, which flitted hither and thither, 
their blue and green bodies—long, jointed, and slender—shining 
in the sun. Reeds and rushes stood in patches, erect or drooping, 
and formed an outer belt wherein lurked water-birds, and where 
I saw a species of tufted crane. Babbles rose from the oozy mud 
and floated idly on the surface, or burst softly and without cause, 
while hideous lizards played amongst the branches. Further, 
there were water-snakes, flat-headed and venomous in aspect, 
which lay coiled amongst the gnarled roots, or hung from the tree- 
limbs like withered creepers. 

Rest assured that we did not see all this at once. I do but 


21 


The Golden Kingdom 


322 

recount in a few successive sentences what we encountered during 
that depressing day, and I am free to confess the limit of this 
noisome swamp was the most unholy spot in which I have ever 
been. It surpassed in horror the silent lagoons of the oily river 
Ogobo. 

For hours we searched, but all to no avail. In parts there was 
a profusion of vegetation, but nothing resembling the plant we 
sought, the lean tree with rounded, pulpy leaves and red and wax¬ 
like berries. Fatigued and distressed, we hurried back to healthy 
ground ere the onset of night; but once upon the ridge and 
refreshed by another meal, Corkran persuaded us to travel several 
miles to the westward, so that on the succeeding day we might 
explore another portion of the edge of the morass. I was the 
more ready to accede to his proposal in that, as the sun set, I had 
again seen the yellow gleam from the cliff-tops and felt that joy of 
the explorer which Corkran had foretold. 

‘ Soon after daybreak we were once more upon the quest, but at 
first with no better success. Nicholas was forced to admit that on 
his last journey he had seen no tree such as that we sought, but then, 
as he reminded me, he had known nothing of its importance, and 
had been sick unto death, a prey to the deadliest of fevers. We 
were disheartened, and, like rash fools, half willing to attempt the 
passage unguarded, when it fortunately occurred to me to survey 
the swamp beyond the tree belt. This we did, stepping and 
springing from one arch of roots to another, now and then finding 
firm ground, and anon hard put to it to cross some faetid, slimy 
pool. All the time we had to keep a keen outlook for snakes 
lurking in the branches, and, as a matter of fact, slew two reptiles, 
one with green scales, the other brown and mottled. It was a 
vile and hateful nightmare of a place, this wood of the marsh, 
with its crawling, creeping life, its stillness, gloom, noisomeness, 
and silent bubble-bursting. 

We breathed more freely when, after much exertion and several 
narrow escapes, we were quit of it, and had our feet on a patch 
of firm meadow-land—an islet, or rather a peninsula, set in the 
surrounding swamp. There were many such forming a network 
all over the surface of this huge bog, which was a mixture of thick 


The Great Swamp 323 

mud, reed patches, and ponds and lanes of scum-coated water. 
Aquatic plants spread their broad fronds over the surface of pools, 
lilies bloomed amongst the rushes, the air was sickly and alive 
with insects. Innumerable birds had here their home—long-legged 
waders, long-beaked eaters of frogs, a multitude of duck which 
rose in scurrying haste and tailed into a long line of rapid flight. 
Beetles with twitching legs, working like oars, propelled them¬ 
selves hither and thither, tadpoles with waving tails swam beneath 
the surface, the grass was full of hopping frogs. The sun struck 
hotly on the moist expanse, and vapours rose in many parts, the 
horrid miasm of this forsaken spot. Here and there on the tiny 
islets were dotted bushes, and it was on one of these oases that I, 
to my surprise and wonderment, stumbled upon the object of my 
quest. 

It was indeed a lean tree, of no great height, but smooth¬ 
stemmed, and having nothing like a bark or shell. The colour of 
its trunk was bluish-green, and it had nodes at intervals. Its 
branches sprang forth at these nodes, and were bare up to their 
extremities, where they carried clusters both of leaves and berries. 
The leaves were not doubly ribbed as Rhazes had it, but in other 
ways conformed to his description, and the berries, each of the 
bigness of a hazel nut, were of the hue of coral. Berries, I say, 
but they were not real berries; rather, I take it, a curious form of 
fruit, more of the nature of nuts, for there was an outer pulpy 
portion enclosing a black and shiny shell, which in turn enclosed 
a yellow kernel. Astonished though I was, scarce realising that 
our efforts had been crowned with success, I could not doubt the 
evidence before me. There could not be two such trees nourished 
by swampy soil. True, the plant did not wholly tally with the 
description, yet was I convinced that once again a merciful Provi¬ 
dence had guided us aright, and that this was indeed what we had 
come to term “the fever-tree.” 

Already it was wearing late, and we made haste to strip it, till, 
when we had finished, it looked leaner than ever, having lost both 
leaves and fruit. Further, we made incisions in its smooth stem, 
from which exuded a milky juice, though nothing of the nature of 
an oil. With all haste we retraced our steps, had an infinity of 


The Golden Kingdom 


3 2 4 

trouble in crossing the tree belt, but haply left the lower levels 
behind us ere black night swept down upon the scene and ere the 
pestiferous gnats swarmed forth in countless hordes to seek their 
food. 

Wearied though we were, I never thought of sleep till I had 
tested the effect of fruit pulp and kernel, and likewise of the leaf 
juice upon the skin. The book had not stated what was the 
effective portion, and unhappily I commenced by smearing myself 
and Jacob with the thick juice of the leaves. Corkran, the 
cunning rascal, had no spirit for the enterprise, excusing himself 
on the ground that he had to cook the remainder of the buck’s 
meat. Thereby he was able to enjoy our discomfiture, for the 
stuff produced an intolerable itching which well-nigh drove us 
mad. Jacob was a sight to see, rubbing and scratching at his 
face, slapping either hand in turn, a mass of misery; and, to tell 
the truth, I was little better. 

“ Ho, ho ! ” cried Corkran, “ ’tis a great thing to be a leech, 
and still more the patient of one; ” but his merriment was short¬ 
lived when he considered what was at stake. 

In desperation I applied the pulp of the berry, and to my joy 
found that its greasy smear relieved the itching. Still it was not 
of the nature of a gum, and consequently my attention was directed 
to the yellow kernel. It had a peculiar odour, and was, I at once 
found, full of a stickiness which boded well. What, then, was my 
chagrin to find that it also caused a most distressing itch. 

It was Corkran who solved the difficulty. 

‘‘When you have finished this performance,” said he, “per¬ 
chance you will try a mixture, and see what that can do for you.” 

Believe it or not as you will, he had found the clue. By 
grinding up the kernel between stones, and mixing it with the 
crushed pulp and a little of the leaf juice to make it more fluid, 
we produced a gummy substance, harmless to the cuticle, and yet 
adhering to it very firmly. Satisfied with this result, and with our 
enthusiasm again fired by the sight of the yellow walls gleaming 
in the rays of the setting sun, we agreed as to the night watches, 
and resolved on the morrow to attempt the most hazardous of our 
ventures—the crossing of the great swamp. 


CHAPTER XXVII 


ICHABOD 

It was done, the Rubicon was passed, and, what is more, 
apparently in safety. Of this there could not as yet be a 
certainty, for according to Corkran, several days elapsed after 
being bitten ere one began to grow hot and cold, to sweat and 
shiver, to turn deadly sick, and be racked by pains in head and 
back and limbs. Such was his belief, and he would always have 
it that camping for a week on the lower levels had been his undoing 
at the time of his previous essay. 

“ Ay, ay,” he was wont to remark, “ I might otherwise have 
gained the farther side.” 

“ And died there, belike.” 

“ Mayhap, Doctor Harry; but ’tis better to die and have 
done something than to have lived and accomplished merely 
living.” 

Such was his maxim, and I opine that the men who lay it to 
heart and act upon it will be accounted the greatest, and will 
advance their country in no small measure. 

Still, despite our doubts, we had good reason to hope that we 
had not acquired the poison, for our protective gum had acted 
admirably. We had been careful to smear our faces, necks, hands, 
and forearms, and, indeed, every part liable to be exposed, and 
we had fastened up our clothes so as to baffle the most persistent 
of the fever-flies. I grant you we were uncomfortable, disgustingly 
so, and more especially when the heat softened the outer surface 
of the gum. Never again do I desire such a filthy experience, 

32s 


The Golden Kingdom 


326 

but, as I am about to show, we were in some measure rewarded 
for our sufferings—yes, and according to our several desires. We 
took every possible precaution, sustaining our bodies with a hearty 
meal before starting, thanks to Corkran fixing a poison dart in the 
hide of a water-hog, refilling our water-skins, and, as I have said, 
transforming ourselves, as events proved, into veritable fly-catchers. 
To be sure we refrained from using the gum till we camped for 
the night, and by that time we were well out into the marsh, and 
had gained a tiny hillock, dry under foot, and having brushwood 
upon it so that we were able to make a fire. Never have I spent 
so curious a night as that passed in the centre of this oozy, water¬ 
logged stretch. In the first place, as soon as it grew cool and 
dark there arose a strong and aromatic smell from the divers 
flowers and floating plants; in the second, every frog lifted up his 
voice and croaked with huge delight and the most incessant 
vigour ; in the third, lights glowed and glinted in the sedgy grass, 
and gleaming insects darted this way and that, or hung in the air 
like tiny lamps; in the fourth, there came the sound of heavy 
creatures plunging in the pools, or wallowing in the mire, and an 
oft-repeated blowing and snorting of which I could not imagine 
the cause ; and in the fifth, we were beset by the swarming gnats. 
These midges were not all of one species. There were those 
which trumpeted and settled with a shrill and humming note, 
there were the silent visitants with spotted wings, little grey 
fellows, with very long legs, and a variety larger than any of these, 
having yellow bodies and unspeckled wings tinged of the same 
colour. One and all were keen to feed upon us, though they 
disliked the pungent smoke from the damp wood. They lit 
eagerly, and were at once entangled in the sticky mess. No¬ 
where did we feel their bites, but in the morning our appearance 
was, to say the least, remarkable. Our hands and faces were 
literally studded all over with the bodies of these greedy insects. 
We were black with them, the most curious-looking beings it is 
possible to imagine. 

“Split me!” said Corkran, “if we have not all night long 
played the part of three jars of preserves ! ” 

“ To my mind there are no more gnats left in this region,” I 


Ichabod 


3 2 7 

responded, and then could no longer forbear giving vent to 
my mirth at the amazing sight my two companions presented. 

Each of us then started laughing at the other twain, even Jacob 
being tickled, despite his stolidity. 

A closer inspection, howbeit, revealed the fact that we had not 
wholly escaped unscathed. For one thing we had neglected to 
coat our eyelids, and both the smith and I had been bitten there¬ 
upon, moreover we were stung in the scalp, and on this account 
Corkran jeered at us in high good humour. 

“A sorry time they must have had striving to draw blood from 
my old wig,” said he; “ of a verity here is a new advantage 
in being scalped. We live to learn, the while we learn to live.” 

He was delighted at his immunity, though I hinted that no 
decent gnat would dream of sucking his sour blood. But let me 
say, here and now, that we must have escaped those which breed 
the fever, for none of us suffered. This very fact has made me 
doubt Corkran’s hypothesis, though again it is curious that if the 
foul miasm be the cause we were not affected. In any case I 
can merely state the fact that we spent the night in these pestilent 
regions, and yet had no reason to regret it. 

Our second day’s journey was uneventful. We cleansed our¬ 
selves to the best of our ability, Corkran and I having much 
trouble with our beards, feasted on what was left of the water-hog, 
and were rewarded at sunrise by seeing the golden gleam from the 
ramparts. We were now much nearer the plateau, and could note 
where the light played on patches of green grass high up on its 
mighty flank. The march towards it was tedious in the extreme. 
We were forced to proceed by devious paths, and to spring here 
and there across lanes of filthy water. Jacob came near being 
bogged in one part, and the heat was stifling. The remnants of 
the gum melted and mingled with the sweat which poured from 
us, our loads seemed leaden, and the distance to be traversed 
interminable. 

“ Courage ! ” cried Corkran when we flagged, and “ Courage ! ” 
we echoed, though it oozed from us like the bubbles from the 
mud. We were soaked to the waist, bespattered with slime, as 
unhappy wights as Bunyan’s Christian in the Slough of Despond, 


The Golden Kingdom 


328 

but following our indomitable leader we at length won clear. 
The ground became drier, it sloped upwards, patches of bush 
diversified it. No longer did we fall in with the fever-tree, though 
we had seen it on several occasions in the swamp. Upwards we 
toiled and reached a ridge whence we gazed back at the noisome 
stretch below us, and forwards and upwards at buttressed 
slopes, seamed by dark kloofs, shaggy with wood and rising to 
the grim cliffs which frowned on us as though they would bar 
our way. 

I cannot describe the revulsion of feeling we experienced. 
True, we could not see those yellow ramparts which crowned the 
rocks, but it was enough for us that we were on solid, kindly earth, 
amongst wholesome green grass and shrubs and trees and flowers. 
Of these last the most remarkable was a species of white foxglove, 
tall as a man, which grew in a little dip of the hillside, on the 
banks of which we halted. There we camped, drinking in the 
pure air, and giving thanks silently each in his own manner, for 
perils safely past. 

Night, a night free from the plague of flies, changed to day, and 
our morning meal was of the most frugal, for our sun-dried meat 
was nearing an end. Still we continued to ascend, following some 
track which led upwards, and ere long found ourselves amongst 
gigantic grey boulders and pillars of fantastic rocks. At midday 
we rested hard by a stream of joyous water which splashed merrily 
down the mountain side, all unconscious that it went to feed the 
stagnant pools and slimy ponds of the pestiferous morass. We 
were in a clear space amongst the stones and boulders, a very fair 
spot, shut off, as it were, from the world, a cosy, homely corner of 
the flank of the plateau. 

Jacob had passed a few r reflections on the unfitness of our diet, 
and as Corkran also had a palate for fresh and juicy meat, it 
befell that the old rip wandered off to look for game after 
bidding us remain where we were till he returned. 

“ Moreover,” said he, “ keep a sharp look-out. We are nearing 
the abodes of man, and we know nothing of the temper of the folk 
who dwell in this outlandish place. You can signal to me by 
firing a musket.” 


Ichabod 


3 2 9 

He took one of the firelocks with him, in addition to his bow 
and a dozen of the poisoned arrows. He had grown wonderfully 
expert in the use of the latter, and was very skilful in stalking the 
wild creatures which formed our food. His life in Virginia had 
taught him how to follow a trail, and the necessity of seeing that 
the wind blew from the quarry and towards the hunter. 

Left to ourselves the smith and I collected branches and heaped 
them together, struck our flint and steel over a sprinkling of powder, 
and soon had a tiny but cheerful blaze before us, which would 
serve as the beginning of a cooking fire. 

Jacob, whose sight was always feeble in the bright light of day, 
and who never lost an opportunity of sleeping, composed himself 
upon his mighty back, and was soon snoring pleasantly; while I, 
mindful of Corkran’s warnings, took one of the loaded muskets 
and went and sat upon a rounded piece of rock and smoked my 
pipe. Tobacco we still had, and accounted it the greatest of our 
treasures, though our stock was becoming perilously small. 
Having sucked at the stem till the juice gurgled in the bowl, I 
grew thirsty, and walked to the rivulet, where I drank my fill and 
then returned, slowly revolving many things in my mind, and 
wondering much what might await us in the immediate future. 
I am free to confess that my wildest imaginings had never come 
within a mile of the truth, for as I was about to enter the space 
from between two columns like the stones of the ancient Druids, 
I perceived that Jacob Little was not alone. 

Over his sleeping figure stooped the form of a white woman. 
Picture, if possible, my feelings at this apparition. Surprise, 
bewilderment, and curiosity fastened upon me in the same moment, 
only to be succeeded by a lively apprehension—for the woman 
was armed ! She carried a broad-bladed, stabbing spear. Was 
this the sole effect? you ask, good reader, perchance slyly, 
especially if you be of the gentler sex. Well, being but human, 
and having seen no female of my own colour since quitting the 
Cape, I must admit I was strangely stirred—ay, stirred to admira¬ 
tion—and with good reason. To be sure, I only saw the back of 
this uninvited visitor, but it was a back well worth the seeing. Such 
views are apt to be deceptive; but it was enough for me to note 


330 The Golden Kingdom 

that the woman had the figure of a young maid—a tall, lissom 
form, clad in clinging white. Over her shoulders streamed a 
wealth of hair, which in the sunlight shone like threads of spun 
gold. A thick tress of it fell on either side of her face as she 
bent over Jacob, whom I reflected even then would assuredly lose 
his wits if he were to waken suddenly. 

“ What next ? ” he had asked. His perpetual questionings 
were answered with a vengeance. 

I noted the woman wore sandals with guards of leather at the 
ankles, and I marked how slender was her waist, circled by a 
broad belt of scarlet beadwork; how rounded and elegant was 
her shape; how broad and firm those parts of her shoulders 
which were visible. Her very attitude was full of grace, the 
unconscious pose of a wild animal; and—believe me or not, as 
you will—I experienced an over-weening desire to look upon 
her face. 

Suddenly she straightened herself with a quick movement of 
her head, tossed back the glittering masses of her hair, and 
shifted the spear from her left hand to her right. There was 
not a moment to lose. I trembled for Jacob’s life, and, leaving 
my firelock against one of the rock pillars, I stole forward on 
tip-toe, holding my breath, and treading silently. Ere she could 
make another movement I had thrown both my arms about her, 
and she was my prisoner. My prisoner, I say, but far from wholly 
mastered. Strange to relate, she uttered no sound, but began to 
struggle desperately. For so slender a maid she was possessed 
of exceptional strength and activity. Her lithe body twisted and 
writhed ; she strove by every means to elude my grasp; and then, 
all at once, set two rows of sharp teeth into the muscles of the 
ball of my right thumb. 

“ The vixen ! ” thought I. “ The confounded little vixen ! ” 
and felt glad she could not use her spear upon me, for it was a 
very ugly weapon. 

The pain I experienced caused me involuntarily to loosen my 
grip upon her, and in endeavouring to again hold her fast we 
both staggered forward and fell across the smith’s prostrate body. 
Further, the sharp point of the spear entered his forearm, so that 


Ichabod 


33 1 

he was wide awake in a moment, and, intent upon his own safety, 
seized upon us as we lay. 

For the first time I realised in my own person the immensity 
of the smith’s strength, and so did the poor maid, for she gave 
a cry of fear and pain. 

“Jacob!” I gasped, the breath well-nigh squeezed out of me ; 
“ let go—as you love me—let go ! ” 

“ Doctor Harry ! ” said he. “ God bless me ! What does this 
mean ? ” 

“You speak English ! ” cried an eager voice, “ you speak 
English ! ” 

“ Mercy on us ! ” I exclaimed, “ and so do you ! ” 

With that the three of us found ourselves sitting on the grass, 
staring at one another with faces expressive of the very utmost 
astonishment. I confess that I looked more at the woman than 
at my comrade, who was hugging his wounded arm, and whose 
mouth was wide open. My late prisoner made a perfect picture— 
a picture of beauty taken by surprise. Her eyebrows were 
arched; her eyes, soft and dark—a marked contrast to her fair 
tresses—full of a wondering delight; her nose, a very proper 
nose, quivering at the nostrils as she got back her breath ; her 
lips—a veritable Cupid’s bow—parted so that I could see those 
very pearly teeth which were the occasion of the smarting in 
my thenar eminence, as that part of the hand is called which she 
had bitten. Her bosom rose and fell, and her little fingers 
opened and shut as she clenched and unclenched her tiny 
fists. 

“ Madam,* said I with much gravity, getting upon my feet and 
making her a bow, “ I most humbly and with all sincerity crave 
your pardon.” 

She clapped her hands together, threw back her head, and 
laughed till the dimples chased all about the corners of her 
mouth. Her complexion, though clear and healthy, was tanned 
by the sun, and in parts her face was freckled, but to my mind 
this did not detract from her remarkable prettiness. 

“Bless my soul! ” said Jacob Little, his mouth closing for the 
first time. “What next?” 


The Golden Kingdom 


33 2 

Thereat I joined in the girl’s merriment, for the whole affair 
was ludicrous in the extreme. 

“ I like you,” said she to me with the utmost candour. “ You 
are very strong, but you are also very dirty.” 

It was now the smith’s turn to laugh, and his face promptly 
became a mass of wrinkles, and his eyes vanished. 

“ Why is your hair so white ? ” the maid asked suddenly. 
“You do not look very old.” 

Jacob’s visage, as though changed by magic, lengthened visibly, 
while I had perforce to hold my sides. At the same time I noted 
that the girl spoke slowly and with hesitation, as if at a loss in the 
choosing of her words. She was evidently employing a tongue 
none too familiar, and her accent was peculiar, but for all that 
had a certain attractiveness about it. She possessed a witchery 
of manner, a shyness mingled with a frankness of demeanour 
which I found very taking even thus early in our acquaintanceship. 
I began to forgive her the attack upon my cuticle. 

Summoning to my aid the dignified yet kindly manner of my 
profession, I again bowed, and 

“ May I ask whom we have the honour of addressing ? ” said I. 
As a matter of fact, she had done most of the talking, as is the 
way with her sex, but it was well to be polite. 

For a moment she looked puzzled, and pursed up her lips. 
Then a gleam of understanding came into her expressive eyes, 
and she nodded. 

“ My name is Cira,” she answered simply. 

“ Cira,” I repeated. As I live, it had a pleasant sound, though 
no Christian of my acquaintance went by it. 

Persently, before I could continue my inquiries, she noticed 
that Jacob’s hand was stained with blood, which was flowing freely 
from the wound in his arm. 

“You are hurt,” she cried. “ Oh, my foolish spear !” 

Now, considering that to all intents she had been about to stab 
the man as he slept, I felt annoyed at her deceit. My face, grimy 
though it was, must have betrayed me, for she read me at a glance. 

“You think I lie,” she said, stamping one little foot upon the 
ground. 


Ichabod 


333 

“ Well, madam,” I replied very soberly, “ I should be sorry to 
wrong you; but you cannot have forgotten the reason of my 
seizing you as I did.” 

“You use many words like Gozo,” said she bluntly. “What 
may you mean ? ” 

The position was awkward. I did not like to accuse her, but 
there was no help for it. What is more, I was not going to 
shuffle and quibble with this fair savage. 

“ As you have asked,” said I, “ I mean that my comrade had 
been a dead man by this time if I had not happened to-” 

I got no farther. For a brief space she was taken with a fit 
of anger. Her frame shook, her eyes sparkled, her brows were 
knitted in a frown; and then, changing her mind, she again 
threw back her head and laughed merrily. 

“ So,” said she, recovering herself, and dwelling long upon the 
word, “so that was why you handled me so roughly?” 

“To be sure,” I answered, gaining courage, “what other object 
could I possibly have had ? ” 

“ I thought,” said she very demurely, stooping and picking up 
her weapon, “that perchance you could not help yourself. We 

have a custom in Godwana-” She stopped and then added 

inconsequently, “ But I know little of white men, save only the 
king, and my father, who is dead.” I confess, I was speechless 
with surprise. As for Jacob, he had taken off his coat, and was 
busy binding his arm with a strip torn from his shirt sleeve and 
held between his teeth. 

Her gaze lit on his massive forearm. 

“ Why ! ” she cried, “ you are as great a man as the other, and 
I had forgotten.” 

“Forgotten what?” I asked, still more amazed. 

“The king’s command. Quick 1” she added, “we may not 
tarry, and you will aid me.” 

“ In what manner ? ” 

“To escape.” 

“ Escape from whom ? ” 

“ From the first-comer, the man with the green stone.” 

A flood of light broke in upon me, and I turned to Jacob Little. 



The Golden Kingdom 


334 

“ Why !” cried I, “as I live, she must mean Jan Van Wyk ! ” 

“ Even so,” said a deep voice, the voice of the man himself. 

I Started, and swung round upon my heels. Then, indeed, I 
cursed my folly in for a moment disregarding Corkran’s injunc¬ 
tions. We had been taken unawares. In the very spot whence I 
had sprung to rescue Jacob, as I had thought, between the two 
rock pillars, stood the Dutchman. He had possessed himself of 
my loaded musket, and, as had been his custom on the Kittiwake , 
he stroked his black beard with much complacency. I further 
remarked that he was lean and haggard, and bore upon his livid 
countenance the evidence of hardships. 

As I stared at him, a shrill whistle broke the silence, and as if 
by magic the rocks around us bristled with spear points. Full 
fifty naked savages appeared to rise from out the ground, fifty 
copper-coloured natives, with feathers set in their heads, and 
bearing shields as well as spears. 

“They are the king’s men,” said Cira, and cast her weapon 
sullenly on the ground. 

A low mocking laughter greeted her action, and then, for 
the first time, the smith became aware of his surroundings. He 
had been so busy with his wound that he had been oblivious 
even to my hurried sentences, and the Dutchman’s curt rejoinder. 
Now he looked about him, blinking vigorously, and then laid hold 
upon his hammer. 

“ It seems, doctor,” said he, with a look of chastened joy upon 
his visage, “ that we are to fight.” 

“ No, no ! ” cried the girl suddenly. “ It is no use. See, the 
other white man has a gun ! ” 

“The Dutchman!” cried Jacob, his gaze meeting that of Jan 
Van Wyk. 

“ Mine friend upon the ship,” replied the latter gravely. 

“ I am prepared, sir, to meet you fairly, with or without 
weapons,” said the smith, nor could he conceal the eagerness 
in his voice. 

“ I do much regret that at present I am not my own master,” 
answered Van Wyk. “I act for the king of this place, and we were 
in search of the maid yonder who has defied him.” 


Ichabod 


335 

All this time, I was considering the advisability of pistolling the 
Dutchman as he stood, but I was averse to violence, and the odds 
were great. The sight of blood might rouse in the warriors of this 
strange place the lust of carnage, the joy of killing, and I remem¬ 
bered the woman. It was curious that I should do so. As a rule 
I was inclined to consider myself in the first place. In this 
instance, my second thought was of Corkran. We were in the 
power of these men, but he was free. A musket-shot was to be 
the summons for his return. I resolved that there should be 
no firing. 

“Submit with a good grace,” I whispered to Jacob, but there 
was little need of warning. An old man, of very small stature, 
with a long beard arranged in two plaits, and having a cloak of 
leopard-skin depending from his shoulders, came bustling into the 
enclosure, and at sight of him every savage raised his spear, and 
uttered a cry of “ Gozo! ” He spoke rapidly, and in a command¬ 
ing voice, using a clicking language of which I was ignorant, and 
at once they closed in upon us on all sides. Even Jacob per¬ 
ceived the futility of resistance. The chief, for such I took him 
to be, carried a stick of yellow wood, carved into the resemblance 
of a snake, and as he approached the girl, he laid the same length¬ 
wise upon his forehead, whereupon his bodyguard shouted as with 
one voice, “ Cira ! ” Thereafter he conversed with her fluently 
and at great length, making many gestures and pointing to us and 
to the Dutchman. When he had made an end, the girl told us we 
must all three give up our arms, in which case we should come to 
no harm. I promptly handed over my pistols to this Gozo, who 
was very chary about taking them, and I had much ado to make 
Jacob part with his hammer—a weapon which excited the greatest 
interest amongst the natives, as did its owner. The Dutchman 
yielded up the musket, and our other belongings were speedily 
seized upon. Then surrounded by our guard, we were marched 
forth, the maid Cira going with an advance party, Jacob and 
myself being in the centre, and Jan Van Wyk in the rear. 

In this order we began the ascent, and though as we mounted 
I looked abroad, I could see no sign of Corkran. This only I 
noticed, that the Dutchman spoke to the chief, though in what 


The Golden Kingdom 


33 6 

language I knew not, and that as a result six of the warriors were 
left behind. Then I realised that Jan Van Wyk had seen our 
three loads, and rightly guessed that Captain Nicholas formed one 
of our company. The six men were placed in hiding to secure 
him on his return. Thereat I was much perturbed, fearing he 
would come to harm ; and yet I could not warn him in any way. 
I did raise a shout, but was promptly prodded violently in the 
back with the haft of a spear, and so deemed silence to be golden. 
Needless to say, my brain was very busy as we toiled up the moun¬ 
tain side. Who was this fair maid who spoke English, though with 
difficulty? I recalled Corkran’s tale of the woman who had 
died amongst the Caffres, of her daughter, of Cardoso and Melinda. 
Was this some descendent of the Portugeuse, and if so how came 
she to have hair the colour of gold, and the appearance of one of 
my countrywomen ? She had said her father was dead. Who, then, 
had he been ? Who was the king of this realm ? Of what 
tribe or nation were these copper-coloured spearmen ? How had 
Jan Van Wyk managed to cross the swamp, and what part was he 
playing in this place ? How was he able to converse with Gozo, 
the chief? Above all, what had the girl Cira meant when she 
spoke of the king’s command, and escaping from the first comer ? 
Such were my questionings ; and no wonder I felt confused. That 
Cira disliked the Dutchman was evident. She had shrunk back 
at sight of him,—and, this I had noticed with a certain satisfac¬ 
tion,—had drawn closer to me when he had appeared. Again I 
was in the dark as to her remark about the customs of Godwana. 
Verily it seemed—but there I put an end to my wandering thoughts, 
and took note of the features of the landscape and the way by 
which we climbed. 

We marched on the summit of one of the huge grass- 
covered ridges or buttresses which looked as though they 
supported the lofty cliff wall, and between which grew dense 
tangles of white and red blossoms. My interest increased as we 
ascended. Our guards broke into a chant—a long swing of a song 
which suited our pace, and was accompanied by the rattling of 
their spear-handles on their dappled shields. The men were tall 
and finely formed, all save Gozo, and had intelligent faces, though 


Ichabod 


337 


their features resembled those of the Caffre tribes. They were 
without tattoo marks, and, this I specially noticed, had no orna¬ 
ments of gold, though some were adorned with bright beads sewn 
upon leather. Each wore a moocha, or apron of hide, and the 
majority had copper rings about their necks and arms. The 
feathers of their headdresses were white and black, and, as I found 
thereafter, had been plucked from the plumage of vultures. Their 
general aspect was warlike; but they appeared neither cruel nor 
ferocious, and were under a very excellent discipline. 

Higher and higher we mounted, till the grass grew sparse, till 
we were done with trees, till we struck a steep and winding path 
upon the cliff-face. The air was fresh and glorious ; the prospect, 
when I had opportunity of viewing it, of vast extent and 
surpassing loveliness ; for the mists of the swamp looked like a 
blue and shifting sea a thousand feet and more below us, and 
beyond rose the ridges we had traversed, and a multitude of high 
mountains upon which the sun shone. Birds of the hawk and 
eagle species shot out from holes and perches in the cliff-face 
and soared high in the air, their brown neck-feathers gleaming 
like a burnished bronze. 

Above all things, I reflected, we were drawing ever nearer to 
those yellow walls we had seen, those mighty towers and ramparts 
which had glowed a golden hue with each succeeding sunrise 
and sunset. 

The cliffs were of a blackish rock, which looked as though 
it had been crumpled from side to side into long folds. It was 
spotted with the dung of birds, and here and there stunted trees 
clung to it, some bearing brilliant scarlet flower-spikes. 

Up and up, till the path narrowed, and we marched two 
abreast; up and up, till we zig-zagged like a snake by reason 
of tbe windings of the road; up and up, till we reached a 
projecting spur, whence I could see the edge of the cliff-wall 
and what was set upon it. 

Then indeed my heart sank within me: the dreams of many 
months faded as when a sleeper wakes ; hope and desire turned 
to chagrin and disgust. All the time of our voyaging, all the 
weeks of our sore travail, all through our manifold dangers and 


22 



33 8 


The Golden Kingdom 


adventurings, I had told myself that the thought of treasure 
weighed little with me. I had fondly imagined that it was my 
roving spirit, my desire for novelties, my love of change and 
excitement, which had lured me on the quest and kept me 
stubbornly upon it. Now I knew that I had deceived myself, 
and that, like Corkran, I had been intent upon discovery, on 
the finding of this city with the walls of gold—ay, and on 
amassing the precious metal itself, if that were possible. 

Gold, forsooth ! and golden walls ! Those towers and ramparts 
we had gazed upon so lovingly and so eagerly, those defences we 
had discussed, those yellow bulwarks upon the mountain-top, the 
sight of which had braced us and heartened us for a supreme 
effort, were now very plainly before my eyes. I looked at them, 
and I cried within myself, “ Quod ignotum pro magnifico est,” 
and again, “ Quid non mortalia pectora cogis, auri sacra fames ? ” 

I had reason for so doing—I was justified in my bitterness; for 
all along the cliff-edge were piles of boulders and of weathered 
rocks of a fantastic shape. Towers and walls ! ’Tis true they 
bore some resemblance to such in their arrangement; it may be 
that at one time they had been reared by human hands ; but that 
did not concern me. It was enough that after the greatest of 
vicissitudes, the most perilous of journeys, that which I had 
become convinced was a reality, in reality existed not. 


CHAPTER XXVIII 


THE KING AND CIRA 

“ How, then, had these mad fellows been deceived?” the reader, 
granted he has followed us thus far, may well ask. 

I make no mystery of it, nor was the thing wonderful in itself. 
These confused heaps of stone and worn pillars and columns 
were coated thickly with a bright yellow lichen which grew upon 
them in patches. Each little plant was cup-shaped and curled at 
the edges, its under-surface being grey and wrinkled. Moreover, 
as I afterwards discovered, the rock was full of glittering specks, 
such as I had seen in slates and other stones in my own land. It 
was not always visible, but twice in the day, when the rays of the 
rising and the setting sun struck full upon the verge of the plateau, 
it sparkled brightly, and, further, the yellow moss was lit up so as 
to present a most remarkable appearance. I was to see it at 
close quarters, and to marvel at it, and cease to blame myself for 
having been led astray and having let my thoughts run riot. 

At the time, however, my heart sank within me, and especially 
I grieved for Corkran. The old rip had been so set upon the 
undertaking, so full of perseverance, so triumphant when he had 
been able to indicate to me the spot of our ambitions, that I 
feared his brain would be turned by the magnitude of our mis¬ 
fortune. As for Jacob Little, he was so full of delight at having 
again met the Dutchman that he scarcely paid any attention to 
me when I pointed out to him how we had been befooled. 

“ With or without weapons,” said he. “ Doctor, he is bigger 
than ever, though a trifle lean.” 


339 


340 The Golden Kingdom 

I could not help smiling at his infatuation. He was as 
contented as a teething babe that has got its gums to work on 
something soft, yet firm. 

His indifference shamed me, and I began to pluck up heart. 
After all, there might be something behind and beyond these 
heaps of stones. 

Already we had encountered a new race, and had heard of a 
king. It might be, I reflected, that these were the Men of the 
Mines, the people of the Empire of Monomotapa. Further, there 
was the maid Cira. I could now and then catch a glimpse of 
her amongst her guards, and she excited in me a lively interest. 
Where had I ever seen such eyes, or watched the breeze sport 
with such golden tresses ? Where had I ever looked upon so 
trim and rounded and elegant a form ? Where had I ever been 
greeted with so merry a smile or witnessed such a coy demureness ? 

“Steady, my lad!” said I, recalling Corkran’s sayings anent 
women, but for all that, resolved to do my best to aid her if she 
were in any danger. As was my custom, I began to weave tales 
anent her in my head till I had made her out a veritable fairy 
queen, a goddess amongst savages, instead of a little vixen who 
had bitten me very sorely in the ball of my right thumb. 

Presently, however, my attention was again directed to our 
surroundings. We had reached the summit, and were about to 
pass under an archway. It was formed of the rude, unshapen 
rock from which not even the lichen patches had been scraped, 
and, for all I know, may have been a natural configuration. As 
we approached it six spearmen stepped forth and gave us greeting, 
crying aloud the names of “ Gozo ” and “ Cira,” whereat the old 
savage again laid his staff lengthwise upon his forehead. The 
guard of this primitive gateway ranged themselves on either side 
of the path, and we passed between—Jacob Little, as was ever the 
case, attracting their attention and exciting their surprise. It was 
from this point of vantage that I perceived what manner of place 
this was at which we had arrived, and thereby experienced a 
second disappointment, though one for which I was in some 
measure prepared. I looked upon the summit of a plateau, a 
great stretch of grass-covered land, more or less cup-shaped, but 


The King and Cira 341 

very irregular in outline. Red tracks led hither and thither to the 
cliff edges, which formed three sides of this oblong eminence. The 
fourth was a rounded crest, over which a broad road dipped. 
The side of this ridge faced us as we stood on the summit of the 
southern cliffs, and I could see it was very steep, and that at its base 
ran a stream, the waters of which glittered in the sunshine, while 
along its banks there was evidence of tillage. The broad road 
aforesaid, which climbed to the summit of the opposing crest, 
crossed the stream at a ford, and, winding upwards in our direction, 
reached well below us, its starting-point, to wit, a great cluster of 
domed huts surrounding a large central building, and flanked by 
what to me looked like barns with thatched roofs. The whole 
settlement was surrounded by a triple fence of reeds, from within 
which moving spear-points flashed. 

Outside this main township was a scattering of hovels, huts, 
and booths, dotted here and there without order, but all grouped 
on one side of the fenced enclosure. A swarm of black figures 
moved about amongst them, and there was borne to us the 
repeated and monotonous rattlings of a drum. 

The moment our guard came in sight of this kraal, for kraal it 
seemed to be, they raised their spears and shouted the word, 
“ Godwana! ” while Gozo, the head man, again laid the snake 
staff to his forehead. 

“ We have a custom in Godwana.” I recalled the words of the 
girl Cira, and looked upon the place with interest, though I would 
fain have known precisely what that custom was. 

Ere we began to descend I again looked abroad and perceived 
how well-nigh impregnable this site must be. To the north alone 
was there any possibility of its being vulnerable to attacks, as far 
as I could see,—to the north, where was the steep crest crossed 
by the broad road, for there the beetling cliffs seemed to be 
absent. Elsewhere the tracks ended at the edge of the plateau; 
there the road dipped and disappeared, clearly leading somewhere, 
and such a road could never be carried down a precipitous face of 
rock. I was curious to know what was to be seen beyond that 
ridge, for, being at a higher elevation, I could mark the outline 
of a rounded mountain-top away in the distance, and judged a 


342 The Golden Kingdom 

valley lay between the mountain and the plateau on which we 
were. Did the swamp wholly encircle this huge hummock of 
land ? was it an island set in a morass—a stronghold for which 
Nature had fashioned mighty walls and a most deadly moat? 
This was the question I asked myself till we began to descend 
towards the hut cluster, and then, I must confess, that the sun 
made such a pretty picture of a certain figure with the advance 
guard that I ceased to think at all, and was content to watch the 
body of men and their fair captive as they traversed the narrow 
path which led downwards to Godwana. For all that, I noticed 
a multitude of cattle, red and black and spotted, feeding on the 
slopes; arid, further, there were at intervals along the cliff edges, 
yes, and at set spaces on the rounded crest, little circular erections, 
which I found thereafter to be built of turf and stone, and to be 
the stations for armed sentinels. Moreover, the surface was in 
part sown with rocks, piled together in disarray like the ruins of 
little cities, and amongst them grew pulpy and spiny plants, and 
over them ran creepers, and between them were thickets of dark¬ 
leaved bushes. 

We crossed such a stony stretch, and I remarked a great 
number of most gorgeous butterflies, brilliant flitting spots of 
colour, and likewise green lizards with swollen, scarlet necks, and 
merry little birds and doves which cooed melodiously. 

“A strange place is this, Jacob,” said I. 

“ And a strange people,” he answered moodily, being grieved 
at the loss of his weapon, and finding it irksome to have his 
movements controlled. 

It was his custom to sleep of an afternoon, and he was annoyed 
at having to march against his will, even though the air was cool 
and fresh in these lofty uplands. I understood how the maid 
Cira, with her thick covering of hair, could go bareheaded in the 
daytime. 

“ They have at least one pretty custom in Godwana,” said I, 
and then took myself to task for a fool. 

I perceived very clearly that I had need of Corkran as a most 
wholesome corrective. I began to wonder what would happen to 
my old comrade, when suddenly a perfect tumult arose in the 


The King and Cira 343 

township we were now approaching. A dozen drums rattled 
incessantly, a score of cow-horns brayed forth the harshest of 
music, and there was the noise made by many spears beating 
upon shields of hide. At first I thought that we were the sole 
reason of all this uproar, but such was not the case. I looked 
and saw a crowd of black forms upon the broad road beyond the 
stream, and others flooding over the crest behind them. As they 
wound down the side of the ridge I noticed there was a central 
line, a column of four abreast, on either side of which were armed 
soldiery, whose weapons flashed and sparkled as they moved. I 
readily perceived that there were two parts of this company, and 
as it drew nearer I asked myself where I had seen the like before. 

Slowly it moved, slowly, and, as it were, painfully; and then my 
memory harked back to the sea and ships—to the Kittiwake and 
the sluggish Ogobo—to the clearing and the barrancas—to Jose, 
the Portuguese, and that which had issued from the forest screen. 
The sound of a cracking whip, the cry of a woman in distress, 
confirmed my impressions. I was again the witness of a caravan 
of slaves. Now I understood the presence of these buildings like 
barns, the existence of this settlement amongst the mountains. 
Not that I fully comprehended everything; but I was satisfied on 
one point. Our Golden Kingdom was like to prove a very sorry 
affair—a place of misery and horror and revolting cruelty; and 
where we had hoped to discover workers in a precious metal, we had 
only found once more men who traded in that most perishable of 
commodities which is known in every English slave-ship as “ Black 
Ivory.” 

I groaned inwardly, but said nothing to Jacob Little. He would 
learn soon enough, and be harrrowed in soul by the sights he 
hated. Again I cried bitterly: “ Accursed thirst for gold ! To 
what dost thou not compel human hearts ? ” But this time I quoted 
the Latin with a double meaning and a double sense of dire 
despondency. 

We were now hurried forward by our guards, who clearly wished 
to arrive before the caravan, and made such haste that we were 
soon at the outer fence of reeds, taller than a tall man. Agateway, 
flanked by two lofty poles, confronted us. On the top of each of 


344 The Golden Kingdom 

these was set a huge elephant’s tusk, so placed that its point met 
that of the other in mid-air, and an archway was thus formed. 
Here was another guard of copper-coloured spearmen, who greeted 
us with the usual cries, and were much excited at the appearance 
of white men. We passed through and found another fence. In 
this instance we had to hurry along between the two barriers in 
order to find the gateway in the second, and the same procedure 
was necessary between the second and the third. It was of the 
nature of a maze—a cunning contrivance for defence, and likely to 
answer well, for the palisades were one and all very high and very 
strongly made, and had sharp stakes set upon them, the ends of 
which were painted a vermilion hue. Moreover, there were holes 
cut in them, through which, as I found thereafter, spears with 
prodigiously long hafts could be thrust, like the pikes of the 
infantry of Europe. 

All the time we thus circled the enclosure the noise of drums 
and horns continued, coming from that portion of this curious town 
beyond the walls, situated to one side of that part of the fence by 
which we had entered. When at last we traversed the third and 
last gateway we saw an interesting sight. The place was larger 
than I had thought, and the huts were laid out in lines with much 
regularity. Within the gate was an open space void of grass and 
beaten hard by many feet, and here a company of spearmen were 
exercising in a very curious manner—some crawling on the ground, 
others advancing in a crouching attitude, and yet others leaping 
and charging. At a later period I discovered this was the drill of 
the hunters,—for these men were not soldiers, but wholly devoted 
to the chase. At the time I only remarked they were black¬ 
skinned, of a different race from our guards, approaching the negro 
in form and feature, and had scarlet feathers as a headdress, and 
carried shields of red. Beyond the parade-ground were the 
dwellings of this singular people—domed huts of two sizes, in shape 
like beehives, and closely resembling those of the natives in Terra 
de Natal. The larger had wooden doors painted black and white ; 
the doors of the smaller were crimson, thus corresponding to the 
head feathers of the soldiers and hunters respectively; for these 
people lived apart, and the former were held in the greater honour. 


The King and Cira 345 

Moreover, the larger huts completely surrounded the smaller, and 
for this there was a reason, as will in time be seen. Now these 
huts were in two clusters, one division of them being on the right 
side of the central building I have already mentioned, and the 
other division on the left. On the outskirts of each cluster, and 
close to the third and innermost fence, were the thatched structures 
like barns, in reality barrancas for the slaves, being merely roofs 
set on poles, and having neither walls nor floors. I noticed they 
were empty. 

My attention, however, was chiefly directed to the main building, 
which stood apart in the very centre, and of which I could only 
see the roof, for, like the kraal, it was surrounded by three fences 
of reeds. It was not a hut, of that I was certain, for though the 
roof was circular, it was not domed, and, moreover, it was pierced 
by windows. 

By this time I had become very curious to get at the root of the 
mystery, though I was in a manner amused at the bewildered way 
in which Jacob blinked about him and scratched his white poll. 
In all likelihood he was, as far as realisation of his whereabouts 
was concerned, somewhere in the neighbourhood of Bubolongo. 
No wonder, therefore, he was confused. His manner was scarcely 
suited to an audience with a king, and so I told him. 

“A king ? ” said he. “ What next ? ” nor would he utter another 
word, good or bad. 

The hunters ceased their drill to gaze at us, but stood at a 
respectful distance. They did not, however, give us any form of 
salute, and to my mind eyed the soldiers in no very friendly spirit. 

Cira, the headman Gozo, and the advance guard passed through 
a gap in the outer barrier, and we followed them. Again an inner 
fence confronted us, and I speedily found the arrangement was a 
replica of that encircling the whole township. At last we were 
clear of its meshes, and before us was the palace of the king. 
I contrasted it with the golden mansion of my imagination, and 
my smile was a wry one and at my own expense. The building 
was circular, and enclosed a courtyard. Its lower part was of 
stone, unhewn, and rendered compact by a mortar of red mud. 
Upon this foundation was reared a house in the fashion Europeans 


The Golden Kingdom 


34 6 

adopt in hot climates—a dwelling with a projecting roof formed of 
broad leaves, and a side like that of a native hut, save that it also 
was pierced for windows. An archway gave access to the plot of 
ground round which this curious structure was built, and, like 
every other entrance, was guarded by spearmen. These saluted 
us and cried the customary names, whereat Gozo laid the snake 
staff to his forehead, and we were permitted to pass, having to 
stoop, for the arch was low. It was indeed a mere gap in the 
stone foundation, the house of reeds and grass being continued 
over it. To my great surprise I discovered the interior to be 
somewhat of a flower-garden. There were flags of stone, and 
between them patches of mould, in which grew*divers gay plants. 
A gallery ran round the house above the stonework, and the poles 
supporting it were wreathed about with pretty creepers bearing 
scarlet, blue, and white blossoms. It was shady, and yet ablaze 
with colour, and I fancied I perceived in this the handiwork 
of Cira. 

Jacob was wholly delighted. He sniffed in the sweet scents 
which perfumed the air, and heaved a prodigious sigh. 

“ Doctor,” said he, “ it calls to my mind a garden in old 
England.” 

The honest fellow I could see was well-nigh moved to tears at 
the recollection, and indeed the place had a homely air which 
comforted me. Suddenly, however, every man of our guard 
prostrated himself and beat softly with his head upon the paving. 
Gozo alone remained on his feet, and he bowed himself double, 
and pressed the staff thrice upon his brow. There remained 
standing erect the maid Cira, Jacob and myself, and the Dutchman, 
Jan Van Wyk. Yes, and there was some one else, for a creature 
was standing upright, or nearly so, upon the gallery, clutching the 
rail thereof with both hands, and surveying us intently. For 
a brief space I thought it was an old baboon, but a moment later 
perceived it was a very aged man, so aged as to be repulsive in 
form and feature. 

Thrice the heads of the guards struck the stone flags, and then 
with one accord they sprang erect, beat with their spears upon 
their shields, and cried aloud : 


The King and Cira 


347 


“M’linda!” 

“ M’linda ! ” Where had I heard a similar word ? Of a sudden 
I remembered the cross marking the grave of Luis da Cardoso, 
and the tale that Corkran had told me. M’linda ! Changed 
though it was, spoken with a guttural click, I could not be mis¬ 
taken. M’linda beyond a doubt signified Melinda, the name of 
the treacherous Portuguese, the surgeon of the ship Sacramento , 
who had fled to the north with the fair daughter of that English 
woman, a relic of the hapless S. Joao Baptista, who had breathed 
her last in the head-kraal of the Amahlubi people. 

Christopher Melinda ! I recalled the full name and the whole 
story, and yet was it possible that this wizened, wrinkled, yellow, 
white-haired thing which gazed at us could be he ? There was 
nothing impossible in the supposition, save that the man must be 
very old—ay, close upon a hundred years, and yet he looked it. 
He looked it, I say, all but his eyes—as black and keen and 
sparkling a pair of orbs as even those of my comrade Corkran. 
They were extraordinarily bright, although upon the whites of 
them were blebs of yellow fat, from which coarsed tiny blood¬ 
vessels, forming a network as it were. In marked contrast to 
them were the shaggy, snowy eyebrows, which drooped above 
them; the puckered forehead; the receding, sunken face with 
high cheek-bones; the thin, transparent ears; and the projecting 
lower jaw, wasted at the angles. Below it the skin bagged like a 
pelican’s pouch, and the ridges of the neck stood out like the 
stays of a ship’s mast, tense and sloping. Again I scanned the 
visage. I noted the thin grey fluff on the vault; the tortuous 
vessels at either temple; the myriad crows’ feet at each eye 
angle; the coarse nose, pitted at the point; the lean, colourless 
lips working incessantly; the pointed chin, bristly with a dirty 
hair-growth. The body of the man was so much in the shade 
that his manner of dress was concealed from me; but I re¬ 
marked his fingers, all knuckles and scaly skin and discoloured 
nails clutching the rail as a bird’s claws fasten on a perch. 

This was a king! The desire to laugh, to halloo with merri¬ 
ment, came forcibly upon me, but I restrained myself. There 
was that in the man’s eyes which made me do so—a look of 


The Golden Kingdom 


34 8 

power, of cunning, of insight into others, of—I know not what, 
but something which gave me pause. 

Was he in any way related to the girl Cira ? I asked myself, 
and fervently hoped that such was not the case, for I liked not 
the look of this king in Godwana, and doubted the nature of 
the thin and chilly blood which coursed sluggishly through his 
twisted and thickened vessels. I remembered that he had 
struck down his countryman Cardoso, that Corkran regarded 
him as a scoundrel,—and Corkran was none too particular in 
the judging of his fellow men. So this was the gallant whom 
the fair maid had preferred, who had been worsted in the 
contest for her hand, and yet had won her in the long run. 
It was in very truth hard to conceive, at least until he straightened 
himself, and moved by the aid of a staff into a patch of sunlight. 
Then I saw he must at one time have been a very tall man— 
yes, and in all probability a handsome one, for his spare and 
stooping frame was broad, his long lean legs were straight, his 
body without deformity. His dress was that of a European 
of the time of the first Charles in England ; but a cloak made 
of leopard skin hung over his doublet, and he wore no ruff, 
as indeed must be evident from my description of his neck and 
muscles. Neither had he any collar of lace, nor any ornament 
beyond a plain ring of gold on the forefinger of his left hand. 
As I have said, he moved into a new position and again viewed 
us, coughing at intervals like a dog with a bone in its throat. 
There was something impressive in the silence and something 
irksome in the set regard; but it gave one time to think, and 
my thoughts were those I have recorded. I have no conception 
of what occupied Jacob’s mind, but opine it was a blank, to 
judge from his countenance. The Dutchman stroked his beard 
and spat once solemnly and deliberately upon the stone flag 
on which he stood. Both actions seemed characteristic of 
the man. 

“ Gozo! ” said the king presently in a voice of surprising 
strength, “ hambake, Gozo, hambake ! ” 

The word evidently signified approach, for the head-man 
stepped forward, raised his staff, and then awaited the king’s 


The King and Cira 349 

pleasure. The latter spoke to him in the language of the copper- 
coloured people, and with a thick, throaty utterance, leaning 
over the rail as he did so. Gozo answered at great length, 
pointing to Cira and to us and to Jan Van Wyk, and evidently 
recounting our capture. Our weapons were brought forth and 
handed up to the king, who clutched each with a grunt of 
satisfaction; and he was specially charmed with my barkers, 
as well he might be, their butts being inlaid with silver and 
mother-of-pearl, and their locks of a pattern he could never 
have known. 

Suddenly he issued an order. A spearman stepped forward and 
held one hand high above his head. Before I could guess 
what he would be at, the old villain had levelled one of my 
pistols, fired, and sent a ball clean through the man’s palm, 
who received his wound without wincing, and then retired, 
to all appearance envied by his fellows. 

I confess I began to feel anxious as to my own skin after 
this display of markmanship—or, rather, of brutality. It was 
plain also that these people were acquainted with firearms, 
for they betrayed no astonishment at the flash in the pan, the 
curl of smoke, and the loud report. 

When the king had made an end of questioning Gozo, the 
maid Cira was set before him, and he spoke to her in the 
same tongue. From the tone of his voice I could tell that 
he was upbraiding her, and at times exceeding angry. The 
vessels upon his temples stood out like twisted cords, and his 
hands shook even as they grasped the rail. The girl listened 
with bowed head, and she of all that company alone seemed 
in keeping with the bright flowers and the sweet scents which 
filled the courtyard. He appeared to question her, for suddenly 
she looked up and answered him, and there was a fine spirit 
in her voice. A murmur ran through the lines of spearmen— 
a murmur of sympathy, or I was greatly mistaken. She seemed 
heartened thereby, and presently there was a perfect war of 
words between the two. The old king pointed to Jan Van 
Wyk and spoke vehemently. The girl shook her head till her 
bright hair spread in disorder all about her shoulders. So the 


The Golden Kingdom 


35° 

scene continued, to me more or less unintelligible, though even 
then, aided by Cira’s words ere we were captured, I had my 
suspicions. 

All at once Melinda waved his arms impatiently, as though 
dismissing the subject, and began speaking in another tongue— 
a language without clicks, and which I surmised to be Portuguese, 
both from my knowledge of the man’s history and my acquaint¬ 
ance with the Latin. Further, I noticed a look of understanding 
creep into the Dutchman’s hairy visage. Jan Van Wyk was 
master of the speech of Portugal as well as that of England. 
The object of this sudden change was speedily apparent. 
Cira was to act as interpreter between us and the king, 
who, no doubt, wished to keep the information thus obtained 
from the soldiers. It annoyed me to think the Dutchman could 
not also be kept in ignorance, for the man was crafty, and, by 
his own showing, unscrupulous; otherwise what of the green 
stone he had torn from Corkran’s beard, and the lies wherewith 
he had fed the crew of the galiot at Bubolongo ? Great was my 
desire to learn how he had compassed the crossing of the swamp. 

“ Canst speak French ? ” I asked the maid in that tongue, 
for I had some small knowledge of it. 

She shook her head and looked at me with parted lips. 

“ I know not these words in the English,” said she. 

“ Nay ! ” I cried, “ I did but try you in another language, for 
there is need of care.” 

“Even so,” said Jan Van Wyk, as he had once said before; 
and, looking at him, I perceived a mocking laughter in his eyes, 
although the rest of his face was motionless, and his hands still 
sought his beard. 

“ The king would know who you are, whence you come, and 
for what reason you travel?” 

“ Tell the king,” said I, “ that we are gentlemen of England, 
myself a surgeon, my comrade a worker in metals; that we were 
cast away in a vessel of our country, and journeyed inland, 
having a desire to see new things.” 

She did so, and Melinda was taken with a fit of horrid 
merriment, which ended in a series of barking coughs. 


35* 


The King and Cira 

“ What says the king ? ” I asked. 

“ He says ye shall assuredly see new things,” replied Cira, 
and her face was grave. 

“Tell the king,” said I, “we have already done so, but that 
this Dutchman is no new thing to us. We succoured him in 
times past, and he robbed us thereafter.” 

A mischievous sparkle came into the girl’s eyes, and she 
made haste to translate my words. Scarce was she done, however, 
when Jan Van Wyk spoke in the Portuguese, and the king 
again chuckled till he choked, and addressed the maid. 

“ The king would know which of you was robbed ? ” she asked. 

Now I was in a dilemma, for I had no wish to say anything 
which might endanger Corkran; but as the Dutchman had 
already discerned signs of his presence in our company, I 
considered it inadvisable to withhold the truth. 

“ The third of us,” said I, “ he whom the six spearmen await.” 

“ And what is he ? ” came the question. 

“A sea-farer,” I answered; and, impelled by a pride I could not 
stifle, I added, “ and a man hard to beat.” 

“ Yet will I beat him,” was the king’s reply by the mouth of 
the maid Cira. 

“ Your task will not be of the lightest,” was my unspoken 
thought, and little guessed how near the mark it was to prove. 

Melinda took snuff in the Caffre fashion, the grains clinging to 
the hairs of his nostrils, and for a time there was silence. 

Then the interrogation again began. 

“ The king would know how you crossed the swamp and died 
not, nor were stricken with the fever ? ” 

“ Tell the king ’twas by the knowledge I have gained,” I 
answered, for I was not willing to betray the secret of the 
Arabian. 

I could have sworn there was a look of admiration in the girl’s 
eyes as she turned to address the hoary villain. If she had a 
love of learning, so much the better. The old man spoke sharply 
to her in reply, and she shook her head. Presently, however, she 
again faced us, and, speaking sulkily, told us that the king 
regarded me as a liar. 


352 The Golden Kingdom 

“ Tell the king I am not a liar—I am a physician,” I rejoined 
hotly. 

When this had been translated to him, Melinda doubled up 
with mirth, and I am free to confess his response amused me 
also in some measure. 

“ The king says a physician and a liar are one and the same 
thing,” was what Cira announced as his finding. 

“ In some cases it is so,” I replied; “ the king knoweth his 
own heart.” 

My shaft found a lodgment. The eyes of the old Portuguese 
lit up and grew suspicious, and his lips quivered. He spoke 
harshly, and the girl’s face grew troubled and she trembled a little. 
Presently they conversed together, and Cira seemed to me to be 
pleading on our behalf. 

“ We are in peril, Jacob,” I whispered ; and, deaf though he 
was, he heard me. 

“ I am ready,” he replied softly, and I saw him brace his 
shoulders and look about him. 

“ What says the king ? ” I asked, determined to know the 
worst. 

My answer came from an unexpected quarter. 

“The king says you are to die ere nightfall, and that your 
comrade, he of the white hair and the blind eyes, will now speak 
for himself,” said the impassive voice of the great Dutchman. 

“Why am I to die? I have done no wrong,” I answered 
stoutly. 

“ It is the king’s will,” said Jan Van Wyk, and again his eyes 
smiled the while he stroked his beard. 

The girl with her back to us threw out her arms with a gesture 
of appeal, and I blessed her in my heart. The aged villain upon 
the gallery craned his head towards her, and said something 
which sent the red blood mounting to her neck and face; and as 
she turned towards us I saw it mantling on her forehead. 

Once again Jan Van Wyk spat upon the stone flag at his feet. 

Suddenly an inspiration came to me. The Melinda of 
Corkran’s tale had been a surgeon, and must have known the 
Latin. I would put the king to the test, and scare him with my 


The King and Cira 353 

knowledge of his past, were he indeed the scoundrel of the 
seaman’s yarn. 

I raised my arm and pointed a finger at him. 

“ Christopher Melinda! ” I cried in the ancient and classic 
tongue,—“ Christopher Melinda, sometime surgeon of the ship 
Sacramento, what of Luis da Cardoso and the white woman who 
dwelt with the Amahlubi people ? ” 

I was scarce prepared for the effect my words had upon him. 
His jaw dropped, his eyes started from his head, he shook all over 
and clapped a hand upon his brow. He made as though to 
speak, and then gave vent to a curious cry, which was almost a 
scream. Froth burst forth upon his lips, one side of his face 
twitched violently, and then he fell backwards, thudding heavily 
upon the wood, and lay there quivering and foaming at the mouth 
in the unconsciousness of a violent fit. 


*3 


CHAPTER XXIX 


THE SLAYING OF THE SIX 

Let not the indulgent reader imagine that the above events 
occurred precisely as narrated. For one thing, the maid Cira 
was scarce so fluent in her English as here recorded. Every 
now and then she found herself at a loss for a word, and, indeed, 
made not a few errors, the which, however, sounded rather taking 
than otherwise. Again, more was said than I have set down ; 
but, for all that, I have faithfully narrated the chief questions put 
to me and my answers thereto, and likewise the effect of my last 
words on the man who had once been surgeon to the Sacra¬ 
mento. It was scarce less remarkable on his spearmen. They 
drew away from me in surprise and fear, while even the Dutchman 
showed signs of astonishment—yes, and of annoyance. Cira 
uttered a cry of distress, and, mounting a flight of wooden steps 
which gave access to the gallery, she ran hastily along it till 
she was by the old man’s side. 

Poor maid ! he was, as I thereafter found, her sole relative 
on earth, and, despite his faults, had been kind and indulgent to 
her. No wonder, therefore, she was concerned at his condition. 
Still, she did not weep and wail, as is the way with her sex, nor 
did she turn and curse me. Instead, she went and brought water 
in a calabash, and dashed it on Melinda’s face, and wiped the 
froth from his lips, and tended him with a care pleasant to witness. 
She might be a little vixen, an untutored dweller in the wilderness ; 
Put there was a woman’s heart in her bosom, and she had a 
woman’s deft way with her fingers and a woman’s inconsistency 


354 


The Slaying of the Six 355 

and readiness to forgive, for but a moment before she had been 
very wroth with the object of her solicitude. I am free to 
confess I felt some compunction for my act, though I had never 
intended to bring about such a catastrophe. 

“ Wonderful, doctor ! ” said Jacob, as he slowly perceived what 
had happened. “ You are as clever a man as Corkran in your 
own way ; but you have spoiled the fight.” 

“And saved your beauty, Jacob,” I answered. “They would 
have been too many for us. But, like you, I am inclined to ask, 
What next?” 

I answered the question myself by going to the assistance of 
the girl, who was too scared to be angry, and told me the king 
was subject to such attacks, though she had never seen him 
so convulsed. 

There was nothing to be done but to let him have air, loosen 
his clothes, though they hung lightly on him, and see he did not 
bite his venomous old tongue. I took the opportunity, however, 
of recovering my pistols, unseen by any save Cira, and she made 
no effort to prevent me. 

Presently his spasms left him, his eye-wink returned at the 
finger-touch, and he slowly got back his senses, though he 
remained dazed and dull. 

“ Tell them the king will live,” said I; “ that for this time I 
have spared him.” 

She did so, and the result was scarcely what I had anticipated. 
Gozo straightway plucked up heart to assume the direction of 
affairs, and the soldiers under his command promptly seized 
upon Jacob and the Dutchman, holding spear-points to their 
throats. I feared the smith would rebel, and shouted to him 
to remain passive, for very little would have precipitated a 
slaughter. The natives, I could see, were roused, and a 
frightened animal with some power yet left him is the most 
dangerous of all. Though my pistols were concealed in my 
dress, and one of them was loaded, I made no resistance, 
when, with a certain degree of timidity, they made me also 
a prisoner. 

Gozo said something to the girl, who seemed dazed and 


356 The Golden Kingdom 

stunned, as was no wonder; and we were led forth and through 
the fences. As we emerged upon the open space, there was 
driven into it the caravan of slaves. I saw nothing more of 
them, for we were each bestowed in a hut, although by signs I 
begged that Jacob and I might be lodged together. 

It was close on nightfall, and despite the excitements through 
which I had passed, I was worn and weary. Water and a mess 
of ground meal was given me; a double guard was placed at the 
door; but too exhausted to eat or think, I drank my fill, and, 
stretching myself upon the bare earth, I presently fell fast asleep. 

I was wakened by the wooden door being drawn aside, and the 
entry of the bright light of another day and one of my guards, 
who placed food before me, in the shape of flesh and cakes made 
from a species of millet, together with a calabash containing 
a beer, brewed, as I found thereafter, from the same cereal. All 
day I remained in durance vile, for two armed sentries squatted 
on their hams without the hut, and I had no way, even had 
I desired, of cutting through its thickly woven and mud- 
plastered walls. A tiny hole in the summit of the dome formed 
the customary egress for the smoke of a fire, but the meat given 
me—goat’s flesh, or I was much mistaken—was already cooked, 
and I was denied the doubtful luxury of cheerful flames and 
glowing wood. Doubtful, I say, for these huts become full of 
pungent vapours, and are stifling to those unaccustomed to dwell 
in them. 

The hours passed wearily, and I am not minded to trouble my 
good reader with my vain imaginings. Let him place himself in 
my position, and he can picture my ideas regarding Corkran and 
Jacob Little, the Dutchman and the king, and, to some extent, 
perchance, with reference also to the fair maid of this outlandish 
place, this kingdom of a copper-coloured folk, ruled over by an 
exiled and aged Portuguese. 

I lay idly, and heard the clamour of the slaves and sounds 
whereby I judged some of them were being beaten. The air 
which came filtering in to me was extraordinarily sweet and pure, 
and I fancied this mountain region must be healthy in the 
extreme. All grew very still in the heat of the day; but towards 


The Slaying of the Six 357 

evening, and after I had been served with another meal, there 
arose a great clamour and the noise of people in lamentation. 
What first arrested my attention was the distant sound of singing 
—a long, wailing chant, which grew louder as those who sang it 
approached nearer. A drum rattled, a cowhorn brayed dis¬ 
cordantly, and then a multitude of cries came drifting in to me— 
cries of grief and anger; and again the dreary song, rising and 
falling in long-drawn, measured cadence, exceeding mournful 
and melancholy. 

“What had happened?” I asked myself; and then it was 
borne in upon me that the king must have died. 

I crawled to the door, and looked out. My guards thrust me back 
with the handles of their spears, but not before I had seen the head 
of a procession entering through the inner gate in the third fence. 
Two men led the way—two spearmen—and on the shoulder of 
each rested a man’s legs. I saw the bare and yellow soles of his 
upturned feet facing me in the distance ere I was driven back, 
and realised that they were carrying that which, in all probability, 
was a corpse. Still, I was far from realising what had happened, 
but I heard the sound of many men moving hither and thither, 
and my guards were doubled. 

The tiny circle of sky visible through the roof of my prison 
darkened to a deep bluish-black, and a bright star twinkled in its 
midst, and seemed to wink at me in a friendly fashion, as though 
to say: 

“ Courage, Doctor Harry ! I can see what to you is invisible, 
and things are none so bad.” 

I nodded up to the cheerful little fellow, and then forgot his 
presence, for there were voices speaking at the door. Presently 
the heavy block of wood was withdrawn, and some one entered 
bearing a lighted torch. For a moment I could not discern who 
my visitor was; but the figure rose, the torch also was raised, and 
to my surprise and wonderment I beheld Cira, the king’s ward. 
Her hair was coiled in heavy masses about her shapely head, and 
wreathed with strings of bead-work; her dress was of some dark- 
coloured stuff, which rendered her figure slender and even more 
graceful in aspect, and a curiously woven girdle with fringed and 


The Golden Kingdom 


35 8 

tasselled ends encircled her waist. The light from the smoking 
torch fell full on her face, so that her dark eyes shone like twin 
stars, and she resembled some fair spirit from another clime. 

“ Give you greeting,” she said in a low voice. “ See, I have 
brought you better food ! ” 

She held out a pot full of some conserve, that proved to be 
honey, and had also with her a few sweet cakes, which I after¬ 
wards highly approved, for they were both toothsome and 
palatable. 

I made haste to rise, though when on my feet I had to stoop 
somewhat, for the hut was low in the roof save at its very centre. 
I bowed, therefore, and, in a manner, continued bowing, saying 
at the same time : 

“ Believe me, I am highly honoured, and you have my grateful 
thanks.” 

The girl laughed a trifle nervously, and motioned me to be 
seated, at the same time taking up her place on a mat of woven 
reeds which lay upon the floor. She thrust the torch into a 
convenient hole in the ground, and then put her hands to her 
hair, so that the admirable symmetry of her arms was visible. I 
wondered whether she did this thing on purpose or unconsciously. 
To this day I do not know. 

“ Why have I come to see you ? ” she asked. 

“ That,” said I, “ you know best yourself; but I esteem it a 
privilege.” 

“ I wish,” she replied, a trifle petulantly, “ you would speak the 
English that I can understand.” 

I was profuse in my apologies. 

“ You have so great a knowledge of the language that I am apt 
to forget you do not know it perfectly,” I answered. 

“ I thought,” she said, “ that you were, how say you it ? 
Ah ! a plain-speaking man, but you are as full of windy words 
as Gozo.” 

I confess I was a little taken aback. 

“Your pardon,” I rejoined; “but it is not customary in 
England to speak familiarly to a stranger, more especially if 
that stranger be a woman.” 


The Slaying of the Six 359 

“ Yet I have known you for two days,” said she; “ and did you 
not—but there-” 

She paused, yet I was for once inquisitive. 

“You refer to our first meeting? Tell me, what is that custom 
in Godwana of which you spoke.” 

“ Shall I ?” said she doubtfully. 

“If you will,” I replied. 

“ Well,” she continued, “ you must know that when the men of 
Godwana take women to wife there is a ceremony whereat the 
women are placed in a line with their backs towards those who, 
who-” 

“ Want them,” said I simply, and yet vastly amused at her 
frankness. 

She nodded gravely. 

“ Then,” she added, “ each man must make his choice and 
struggle for the mastery; and the woman may set her teeth in 
his hand, but he who, despite the pain, prevails-” 

She hesitated. 

“ Prevailed,” said I, nodding in turn, and half choked with 
laughter, though sorry for the maid’s sweet innocence. 

“Is there such a custom in England?” she asked, care¬ 
lessly toying with the tassels of her girdle and looking 
downwards. 

“ I have not heard of it,” I answered, my voice trembling as 
I smothered my mirth, the while I wondered if this woman were 
an accomplished coquette or was merely the artless and unabashed 
creature she appeared to be. 

Suddenly she leaned forward. 

“ Ah ! ” she cried, “ you mock me, you laugh at me. I should 
not have said this ; and yet how was I to know. My father is long 
since dead, and, and-” 

Her lips twitched, she was in sore distress. This flower of the 
desert had a tender spirit, it would appear, and I had done wrong 
to doubt her. 

“Stay;” said I, “I do not laugh,” which was true enough, 
whatever I had been doing. “No,” I added earnestly, “tell 
me more; tell me all there is to tell. I am your friend, 





The Golden Kingdom 


3 6° 

Cira, your friend, and, for all I know, your countryman. Tell 
me what brought you here ? ” 

With an effort she controlled herself, though I fancied she 
swallowed a sob in her throat. I saw she could not herself find 
utterance, so I resolved to question her delicately and kindly. 
She needed careful handling, this child of the wilderness. 

“ In the first place, who are you ? ” I asked gently. 

She looked up with lashes on which tear-drops trembled, but 
which she bravely winked away—a touching sight, I willingly 
allow. 

“ I am the second daughter of the king,” she replied, with the 
faintest suspicion of conscious pride. 

“ The daughter of Melinda ! ” I cried in surprise, and she 
signed to me to lower my voice. “The daughter of Melinda, 
—but your father is dead?” 

“ The second daughter,” she repeated, with a puzzled air. 

“ So,” said I, “ I understand ; the old king is your grandfather. 
In England you would be called his grand-daughter.” 

“ I am very foolish,” she replied. “ I did not know.” 

“ Poor lass ! ” said I, voicing my thoughts. “ How could you, 
living amongst these savages? But tell me, who was your father ? ” 

“ He was a man of England,” she answered, “ who fled to 
Godwana because, because-” 

Again she was at a loss. 

“ His life was in danger ? ” I hazarded. 

She nodded. 

“ From black men ? ” I queried. 

She shook her head. 

“ Ah ! from the Portuguese, the yellow traders, the king’s 
nation,” I ejaculated, recalling Corkran’s tales of the Bay de la 
Goa, and the settlement thereat. 

“It is true,” she said; “you are quick.” 

“ Pooh ! ” said I. “ The thing was obvious—plain,” I hastened 
to add, for she made an impatient gesture. She had an active 
and ready brain, this maid, and hated being hampered by her 
ack of words and phrases. 

“ And then-” I hinted. 



The Slaying of the Six 361 

“The man, my father, was wedded to the king’s daughter, 
whose mother was dead. 

“ Dead ! ” I exclaimed. So the pearl of the Amahlub people, 
their goddess, the source of so much contention, and the ruin of 
Cardoso, had perished in the wilds. 

“Yes,” she answered; “the king was ill and like to die, so 
that he was glad to wed my mother to one of her own colour, for 
she was very fair, and— and-” 

“ Moreover,” said I. 

“ Moreover,” she repeated vaguely. 

“ I mean,” I explained, “ that he would require a successor—a 
king to rule after him. Was it not so ? ” 

Her face dimpled with pleasure. 

“ It is good to speak to you,” she said ; “ it is even as when 
my father lived.” 

It was on the tip of my tongue to ask her if she had loved this 
father of hers, but I had the grace to refrain. I was not rogue 
enough to trifle with this pretty maid, nor would I take an undue 
advantage of the peculiar situation. 

“ And your mother ? ” I asked, after a brief pause. 

“ I never saw her.” 

“ Died when you were born ? ” said I, with the instinct of my 
profession. 

Again she nodded, and I could read admiration in her eyes. 
It was certainly not on account of my person, for I was exceeding 
dirty, and my beard was a tangled mass. 

“ Come, Doctor Harry,” said I to myself, “ you are a lucky 
fellow, whatever may befall. First in the field is foremost in 
the race.” 

To be sure I was not thinking of the future, and yet my 
thoughts showed the trend of my mind even thus early. I was 
surprised and displeased with myself, but resolved to put a guard 
on my tongue and on my actions. 

“ What was your father’s name?” I asked, with the gravity of 
a Court adviser. 

“ His name ? I know not,” she responded. “ I ever called him 
father.” 


362 The Golden Kingdom 

Here was a strange thing; this lass was ignorant of her surname. 

“ And why were you called Cira ? ” I queried. 

“ Cira ! It is the name of the people of Godwana for the time 
of harvest,” said she : “ I was born at that season.” 

“ And befit your name,” thought I, looking at her critically. 

So Cira meant autumn. I gazed at her, and in the gleam from 
the torch saw her bright hair, the colour of golden sheaves or 
ripened maize, the scarlet beadwork like crimson berries, her rosy 
lips the hue of ripened fruit, her sun-tanned face with its soft 
freckling, her lissom figure with its full and rounded outlines, her 
little sandalled feet peeping coyly from beneath the folds of her 
purple robes. Assuredly she was well named after the season of 
her birth. 

“ Cira,” said I; “ ’tis a pretty name.” 

“ Do you think so ? ” she asked eagerly. 

“ Otherwise I had not said so,” I answered quietly. “ But tell 
me, Cira, why was your father in danger from the Portuguese?” 

“The priests,” was her unexpected answer. 

“ Whew!” I whistled. “So that was the trouble—a Protestant, 
belike, and in danger as a heretic.” 

“Tell me,” she cried, leaning forward ; “ I do not understand.” 

“ My dear lass,” said I in truly fatherly tones, “ Heaven 
forbid I should enter into the mysteries of sects and religions! ” 

“ Religion ! ” said she. “ Ah, yes ! I remember now ; I have 
a book—a writing.” 

“ A Bible ? ” 

She clapped her hands softly. 

“ But I cannot read,” she added sorrowfully. 

“ In that you are in no way peculiar,” I made haste to assure 
her, and I think she understood. 

“ Never mind, I shall teach you one of these days.” 

“ To read ? ” she asked breathlessly. “ To read the English ? ’ 

“ Ay, and the Dutch, if you will,” I answered thoughtlessly. 

“ No ! ” she cried vehemently. “ I hate the Dutch—at least 
I mean, the Dutchman.” 

I was astonished at her fierceness. 

“We are coming to him,” said I, resolved not to lose the 


The Slaying of the Six 363 

slender thread of this narrative. “Tell me first how your father 
died.” 

“ In the valley,” she said, pointing towards the back of the hut, 
and, therefore, to the north. “ With the hunters in the valley.” 

“ So ! ” I replied. “ Poor lass ! ” and gave her time to recover, 
for I saw she was moved at the recollection. 

“It is many moons ago,” said she, “and I saw no white men 
till he came with the green stone,” and she made the funniest of 
grimaces. 

“ But,” said I, “ how did he cross the swamp ? ” 

“ By the secret path and by the aid of the stone.” 

“ The stone ! ” I muttered. 

“ The people of the stone showed him the way.” 

“ Ho, ho ! ” I cried softly, “ but came not with him ? ” 

“ Nay, they fear us greatly, for we slew them once with a great 
slaughter, and since then they abide in the south.” 

I was hugely interested in this account. So the bauble had 
been of an unexpected service to Jan Van Wyk, and there was 
a passage—no doubt a short one—through the morass. I began to 
perceive what had happened, and longed I could see our friend 
Corkran and tell him the tale. 

“ Listen,” I said suddenly ; “ the Dutchman came, and the 
king—he whom they call M’linda-” 

She laughed and nodded at my pronouncing of the word. 

“The king,” I continued, “being old and frail, did as he had 
once done before : he issued a command—he made a decree.” 

She listened with round eyes of astonishment, and cherry lips 
between which I could see the white teeth, to whose sharpness I 
was able to testify. 

“He said,” I went on, “that a certain Cira, his second daughter” 
(I put it in this way to humour her), “ should wed this great and 
bearded man, who had come up unharmed from the swamp.” 

“ It is true,” she murmured. 

“ Now this man was willing, but the maid Cira was not—why, 
I cannot tell.” 

“ And how am I to say ? ” she asked pitifully. “ He, he-” 

“ Was rough, rude, cruel ? ” I hazarded. 




364 The Golden Kingdom 

She shook her head. 

“ No,” said she simply; “ he was not like you.” 

I confess I was abashed, but she merely laughed merrily at 
my evident discomfiture. 

“ Oh, yes,” she added; “ I know you thought I would slay the 
other man, even as he slept.” 

I perceived the chance of paying her a delicate compliment, 
but refrained. 

“ What of the Dutchman ? ” I queried hurriedly. 

“ I was never asked yea or nay,” said she. 

Then I understood. It was the old tale. This maid had a 
pride and a will of her own, and was not at the disposal of any 
patron, even though he were king in Godwana. I liked her the 
better for it. 

“ So you fled ? ” 

She nodded. 

“ I was going to the cavern—the hole in the cliffs,” said she, 
“when I found the other great man asleep.” 

“And his comrade rough, rude, and cruel?” 

“ Even so,” she retorted, all smiles and merriment. “I learned 
these words from the Dutchman,” she added, very proud of her 
accomplishment. 

“ I fear I cannot recommend him as an instructor,” I replied. 
“I mean,” I explained, “he would not be a good teacher.” 

“No,” said she, “ I think you would be better.” 

“ You do me too much honour,” I responded, hugely tickled. 

“ Will you help me ? ” she asked suddenly. 

“ Assuredly.” 

“ Against the Dutchman ? ” 

“ Even against Jan Van Wyk; though,” I added, doubtful of 
my prowess in that particular, “I would the third of us were here.” 

“ The third ? ” said she. “ You mean the man in the cave ? 
Ah, it was of him I came to speak.” 

“ The man in the cave ! ” I replied, somewhat bewildered. 

“ Yes,” she cried, and there was fear in her voice ; “the slayer 
of the six.” 

“ Of the six ? ” I exclaimed, and like a flash I remembered the 


The Slaying of the Six 365 

wailing and lamentation, the head 01 the procession, and the 
upturned soles of what I had taken to be a dead man. 

I sprang to my feet. 

“ Do you tell me,” I cried, “ that those six spearmen who were 
left behind are dead ? ” 

“ They have been slain,” she said quietly, “ and by one man.” 

“ By Corkran ! ” I shouted. “ I wager ’twas by Corkran ! ” 

“ Hush ! ” she cried, with a gesture of dismay, as there came a 
dull thud from without the hut, and—“Even so!” said a deep 
voice from beyond the door. 

The wooden block was hastily withdrawn, and on his hands 
and knees there came creeping through the aperture the vast bulk 
of the Dutchman, Jan Van Wyk. 


CHAPTER XXX 


FOR LIFE ITSELF 

I have said on hands and knees; but, to be correct in m> 
description, I had better have said on hand and knees, foi 
one arm of the Dutchman was stretched out behind him, and 
it was apparent that he was dragging something after him. His 
sudden appearance astonished me, nor could I guess at the 
reason of his coming, though I felt it boded me no good. I 
stood rooted to the spot and stared at him, while Cira sprang 
away from the mat, and crouched at the back of the hut, leaving 
her little gifts behind her, the cakes of millet and the pot 
of honey. 

Believe me or not as you will, the humorous notion took me 
that we were like two schoolchildren surprised by the master at 
an unlawful feast. Yet there was nothing humorous in the 
aspect of Jan Van Wyk, nor in that he drew into the hut behind 
him, for the latter was a dead man, the corpse of a copper- 
coloured spearman. Was the Dutchman mad ? I asked myself. 
He did not look so; his features were as composed as ever, and 
yet his actions were passing strange. He left his burden on the 
floor and disappeared through the hole. There was not a word 
spoken in the hut. I was as if turned to stone, struck dumb 
with horror and the approach of some great peril. Once again 
the hairy visage of the man was visible, and he crawled in, as 
before, without a sound ; and, as before, he dragged after him the 
body of a native. Four times did this thing happen—four times, 
as I am a truthful scribe; and neither Cira nor I stirred hand 

366 


For Life Itself 


3 6 7 

or foot, nor was our breathing to be heard. We were like palsied 
folk ; but ever we watched the opening, no matter whether it was 
free or blocked by the massive form of the Dutchman and 
the limp figure of one of his hapless victims. His victims, I 
say, and with truth. Ere he had done, I understood the signifi¬ 
cance of this grim and gruesome sight. Jan Van Wyk had slain 
my guard. But why ? But why ? my brain questioned dully, and 
again asked, Why does he bring them here? What is his 
purpose ? What villainy is this ? 

I was soon to know. 

When he had placed the fourth beside the first, the second, 
and the third, he coolly drew the block before the opening, and 
made it fast with cord of hide and staple of wood, and then, 
never looking in our direction, he began to arrange his dead. 
Two he propped up against one side of the hut and two against 
the other. The former pair sat huddled, and the head of 
each fell over upon his shoulder in a loose, uncertain way. My 
knowledge of the anatomy told me what was the matter with 
those silent spearmen. Their necks were broken. The other 
pair had each been bleeding at the nose, yet I could see on them 
no marks of violence. I recalled, however, the sound which had 
been the occasion of Cira’s warning cry, and it was even such 
a sound as might be made by two stout skulls driven together 
with the force of fighting rams. I confess I was afraid—chilled 
and terrified as much by the thought of the immediate future 
as by the present and the immediate past; but, I can honestly 
admit, more on the girl’s account than on mine own. 

Having finished to his satisfaction, the Dutchman straightened 
himself as far as the roof would allow, rubbed his broad palms 
together, and then passed one hand down his beard, which rustled 
softly in his grasp, for the hairs composing it were thick and coarse. 

“ Will you not then continue your conversation ? ” he queried in 
the English. 

We answered him nothing. 

“ Almachtig ! ” said he in his deep voice, “ we are as silent as 
these our visitors,” and he waved a hand first towards one side of 
the hut and then towards the other. 


The Golden Kingdom 


368 

By the light of the torch he loomed enormous, even though 
bowed in the back, and his face was in the shadow, in the gloom 
which hid the roof. For very shame I plucked up heart. 

“ What want you ? ” I asked. “ What is the meaning of this, 
and of those ? ” 

“ Of this and of those ? ” he repeated. “ Tis well put, of this 
and of those; there is no such good phrase in the Dutch.” 

The absence of any excitement about him was alarming. His 
impassiveness increased my dread; but I began to grow angry 
at the same time. 

“ Good manners seem also to be lacking in that nation,” 
said I. 

“And courage in the other,” he retorted. 

“ I think not,” I answered as calmly as might be. 

“ I venture to think otherwise,” was his reply. 

“ What want you ? ” I asked again, and for the first time 
could tell that Cira was present. I heard her breathing, short, 
sharp, and quick, behind me. 

“ I wish,” said he, “ to say a few words, and then to do a little 
thing—quite a little thing, which will make no difference to any 
one but you.” 

I guessed his meaning, but the light in my eyes must have been 
ugly as I answered : 

“Say on, Meinheer Jan Van Wyk.” 

“ To-morrow,” he continued, “ very early in the morning, 
the king sends me to fetch, dead or alive, the man who was 
kapitein of the ship which found me.” 

“ The king ! ” I cried. “ Is he recovered ? ” 

“Yes, yes,” said the girl’s voice, “ it is true.” 

“ Now you will believe me,” sneered Jan Van Wyk. “ This 
man-” he continued. 

“ The man you robbed- ”1 interposed. 

“And who stole my chart?” he asked, with the first sign of 
fierceness he had shown, “ who stole it as I lay senseless ? ” 

“ I took it,” said I, “ and I restored it to its owner.” 

“After you had ruined it,” said he,—“found its secret, and 
spoiled it.” 



For Life Itself 369 

“You mistake my intentions at that time,” I answered shortly; 

‘ but no matter.” 

“ My friend,” said the Dutchman solemnly, “ you will not 
mistake mine at this time—niet, niet; but that also is no 
matter.” 

“ I must frustrate these same,” was my unspoken thought; but 
how ? that was the question, and one on which my life depended. 

“ I will find this man and bring him in alive,” said Van Wyk, 
“ he must die six deaths—one for each of the king’s soldiers he 
has slain.” 

“You are a trifle out in your calculations,” said I, “and do 
not consider the future.” 

“ Some,” said he, “ will have no future to consider.” 

“ That,” I replied, “ is what I strove to impress on you.” 

“Verdoemen!” he growled, “but you are a brave man, after 
all.” 

“ Nay,” said I, “but a desperate one, Meinheer Jan Van Wyk.” 

“ It is the same thing,” he remarked quietly. 

“ It may be,” I assented; “ in any case, you lied a few 

minutes since.” 

“ It is true,” said he, “ though then you were afraid.” 

I was silent; but all the time I watched his eyes—those steady 
grey eyes which recalled to my mind those of Janssen the Jager. 

He began to speak again almost dreamily— and indeed the 
whole interview was to me more like a dream than a very stern 
reality. 

“ I said I must do the king’s bidding, for the sake of a certain 
Obed Schryner who was my very good friend. Ah, yes, you start! 
Had I known that the kapitein was alive when I came upon him 
in the island, I would have killed him then and there. As it 
is, to-morrow—to-morrow ! Firstly, however, I said that I must 
go and see the woman whom the king had promised me, to 
whom I gave the green stone as a token, who was to be my 
wife.” 

“We have a saying,” I remarked, “that green stones are 
unlucky.” 

“ For those that lose them, yes,” he said. 


24 


The Golden Kingdom 


37° 

“ But for those who find them, no,” I replied, displaying the 
bauble itself in the palm of my hand, into which it had just been 
thrust by slender, trembling fingers. 

“The torch burns low,” muttered Jan Van Wyk meaningly, 
stroking his beard, while I racked my brains to think of some 
way of escape, and forgot the easiest. 

“I sought her,” he went on, “and I found her not where she 
should have been.” 

His voice began to tremble and vibrate, and his eyes glowed 
with a sullen fire, but for the nonce he mastered himself. 

“ I have come weary miles and suffered much to find gold,” 
he added; “ and all has proved a lie. But I have not come for 
nothing, I am to take that which was offered me—the woman, the 
king’s ward, yet when I seek her I find her by night in the hut of 
a dog of an Englishman. I find her his-” 

“ Stop! ” I thundered, and then, moved in some strange way 
to pity and admiration, I added bluntly : 

“You are too brave a man, Meinheer, to sully your tongue 
with false slanders.” 

“ Do you tell me so ? ” he asked. 

I inclined my head. 

“ I will believe you,” he said; “I will believe that you spoke 
the truth before you died. Yes, I am grieved, but you must die. 
The other—the big man—may live; but you have brains, and 
the girl thinks you will save her from me.” 

“ And is correct in her supposition,” I replied boldly; for a 
little hand had sought my arm. God knows ! I had no basis for 
my rash speech. 

“ I think not,” said Jan Van Wyk. “ I have killed these very 
quietly, for it is stupid to make much noise, and I shall kill you 
also without a sound more than that.” 

He snapped his thumb and forefinger, and I realised he meant 
to imitate the click my neck should presently give, and felt a sick 
feeling begin to steal over me, when a voice whispered in my ear: 

“ Quick ! What did you take from the king? ” 

“ The pistols ! The pistols ! ” The thought hummed in my 
head even while I blessed the maid for her timely reminder. 


For Life Itself 


37 1 

“ It is I who think not! ” I cried briskly, even joyfully; and, 
pushing the bauble into my fob, I whipped forth one of my 
barkers. 

Jan Van Wyk gave never a sign of fear. 

“ Tis unloaded,” said he. “The king himself fired it.* 

“ Yet will it serve,” I answered, and seizing it by the middle, 
I threw back my arm and hurled it full in his face. As I did so 
I dragged its fellow from my belt and cocked it hastily. There 
was not a moment to lose. I heard the girl scream; I heard a 
thud, a hoarse shout of pain and rage, and then the giant sprang 
at me. In a second I pitched up my weapon and pulled the 
trigger. The lock snapped, the powder fluffed and flared, but 
there was no report; my pistol had failed me. Ere I could make 
another movement my face was buried in Van Wyk’s beard and 
his arms were about my back. I dropped the barker and sought 
to seize him by the throat, but I might as well have grappled with 
a bear. I was a strong man, strong and stoutly built, but this 
huge Dutchman was endowed with a power more than human. 
For a brief space I withstood him, my legs wide apart, my back 
braced, every muscle tense, my teeth set, my neck strained 
against him, my fingers clawing at him to find a purchase. He 
grunted in his throat and pressed me to him. I strove desperately 
to resist, but slowly I yielded. My spine bent, and, leaning over 
me, he put his weight upon my chest. My muscles gave, I was 
forced downwards and backwards, yet I fought him stubbornly till 
there came a sharp pain in the small of my back, and I knew that 
there, and not in the neck, my vertebrae would break asunder. 
Every moment was precious to me, and there was but one way to 
prolong my life. I shuffled my feet forward till my balance was 
gone and my spine was straightening. His suffocating grasp was 
loosened in some measure, and as he sought to tighten on me 
again he staggered forwards with me. 

“ Verdoemen! ” I heard him growl savagely, and then we fell 
together, the Dutchman on top, myself beneath, tearing and 
worrying at him. I got a hold upon his beard and wrenched 
fiercely at it. He bellowed in pain. Again I tugged, and he 
withdrew his hands from behind my back and seized my arms and 


372 The Golden Kingdom 

twisted my fingers till he was free. Then, with my throat in his 
grasp, he seized upon my head, and I realised my hour had come. 

Where Cira was I knew not. I was without hope, but I 
remember that the torch went out, and I remember also that 
before doing so it flickered into a brighter flame, by the light of 
which I saw with eyes which were starting from my skull as it was 
being forced sideways, I saw, I say, the two dead men whose necks 
had been broken sitting huddled against the hut wall; and it 
seemed to me that they raised their limp and drooping heads and 
nodded once to me as if in greeting. Thereafter there was dark¬ 
ness, and a feeble, hopeless striving to turn, so that one might 
catch a glimpse of the twinkling star which had peeped kindly at 
me through the roof. Every sinew on one side of my neck was 
tense and stiff and straining, yet each stretched slowly, very 
slowly, but none the less surely. “ Shall I hear the snap which 
announces my dissolution ? ” was the strange thought which crept 
into my mind, and while I resisted desperately and with a cold 
sweat upon my face, I listened for the dread sound and waited for 
the final agony. There was no dulling of my brain, no merciful 
unconsciousness. I was in full possession of my faculties, and 
thus at length I did hear a sound, but happily not that one which 
I had expected. We had fallen sideways, and thus as my head 
was forced round it faced the entrance to the hut, and the night 
being clear I could see, after the torch was extinguished, a patch 
of sky, studded with a few stars. Suddenly this was blotted out, 
and then there came a noise of rending and tearing which mingled 
with the rush and hum of blood in my ears. Dark though it was 
I could tell what was happening, for I was looking from deep 
blackness to comparative light. 

I became aware that something or somebody discarding the 
door was forcing a way through the hut wall. I saw the latter 
crack and break above the opening, cave in and crumble and 
collapse. A great stretch of clear, dark sky was visible, and 
against it the outline of a huge man, who in desperate haste had 
burst through hardened mud and wattles and closely bound 
reeds and wisps of dried grass. A moment I saw the spread 
of his mighty shoulders, and then he stooped and sprang at us. 


For Life Itself 


373 

I knew him, and while I could not speak, not even gasp, my 
brain voiced the word “Jacob!” I longed to cry out, to give 
him an inkling of where we were, and then, so curious a thing is 
the mind, I recalled the fact that the smith was an albino, that 
he could see clearly in the dark, though half blind in the light of 
day. Truly my wandering ideas anent him long ago by the forge 
at Bishop-Solingford had now been justified. I had imagined 
how this peculiarity might aid him. I had never thought that it 
might also aid me, aid me in dire extremity. 

It has taken long to write, but these notions had been born 
and had ended in the time it took Jacob Little to fling himself 
upon the Dutchman. Then, indeed, there was a battle of 
giants. 

Jan Van Wyk made a desperate effort to finish me as he 
realised he had a new foe with whom to cope, but summoning 
all my remaining energies I withstood him till his grasp sensibly 
relaxed, till that horrid tension on one side of my neck was in 
some measure eased. The Dutchman was for the moment in 
the grasp of some one stronger than himself. Nor had he only 
a single adversary. He gave me an inch and I took an ell. All 
fear of him was gone, and I was full of anger and resentment, 
ay, and full of fight. I wriggled myself free and fastened as 
before upon his beard. Then, indeed, my would-be murderer 
was in a sorry plight. Jacob had him somewhere by the nape of 
the neck and the forehead, and was wrenching him backwards, 
and I was clinging to his chin-growth with one hand and driving 
a fist into his side. He struck at me, but missed me in the dark. 
He struck backwards at Jacob, and his arm was promptly seized 
by the smith. 

Have you ever, good reader, seen a trio of dogs battling in a 
confused mass, tearing and rending at each other, insensible of 
injury, blind with fury, deaf to their surroundings ? So was it 
with the three of us, and soon we were rolling over and over 
on the floor of the hut, against the walls of which were propped 
four dead men, who sat motionless and huddled, two of them 
with heads which drooped like those of flowers, the stems of 
which are broken. I admit there was a glory in it, a hot, fierce, 


374 The Golden Kingdom 

unholy joy, and especially when I began to feel we were gaining 
the mastery. 

“ Leave him to me ! ” I heard Jacob cry, but I was not to be 
denied, and stuck to Van Wyk as a burr sticks to a hairy hide, 
clung to him and worried at him till there arose a great clamour 
and shouting, till strong arms fastened on me and strong fingers 
loosened my grasp, till we were forcibly separated by a dozen 
spearmen, who came crowding in through the gap made by 
Jacob, whom, as I was to find, the girl Cira, despairing of my 
life, had summoned to succour me; who had scattered his own 
guards, and who, I am free to confess, it took six stout men to 
drag from off the body of the Dutchman. To this day, I doubt 
not, they tell the tale in Godwana, unless, indeed, its fame has 
been dwarfed by that of a greater contest, of which I presently 
must tell. 

Curious to relate, despite the intensity of our endeavours, not 
one of us had sustained serious hurt. I was stiff and bruised in 
the neck, and sore also in the hip, for I had rolled over the 
useless pistol, which had exploded without doing damage, but 
beyond these trifling injuries I was unharmed. Jacob had been 
struck on the eye, and the skin about it was already puffy, but 
that was a mere trifle. Van Wyk was the worst of us, but his 
most serious wound had been inflicted by the pistol I had flung 
at him, which had laid open his cheek, and was the occasion of 
our being bespattered with his blood. True, his beard was torn, 
and I warrant he had a few lumps upon him here and there, but 
it is no easy matter to cripple a man of his calibre, and so he 
was able to stand and walk when the spearmen had vanquished 
us. 

Torches were brought, and each of us, breathing hard and 
with our clothes torn, was held fast like a hound in leash. For 
a moment I had no thought of the maid who had saved me. 
No gentler feeling quelled the lust of fight which was yet upon 
me; but presently I saw her, pale and trembling, yet with a 
great light in her eyes and one hand at her breast. A moment 
so, and then Gozo, who had brought the spearmen on us, said 
something to her and she smiled, a very wan smile by way of 


For Life Itself 


375 

assent, and not without reason; for, as she told me later, the 
head-man had sworn by the king and by the two plaits of his 
beard that these white men were warriors indeed. 

For all that he dealt with us speedily and effectively. We were 
then and there bound with thongs of hide, nor could we resist, 
for spear blades were at our throats. The girl made no protest, 
and we were led forth and again bestowed each in a separate hut, 
but this time two armed natives shared my prison, and I do not 
doubt but that Jacob and the Dutchman were similarly guarded. 


CHAPTER XXXI 


THE RIVALS 

I could not sleep, and had time to reflect on the surprising series 
of events which had befallen me. It was apparent that the girl 
Cira, in the whimsical and impulsive way common to her sex, 
had constituted me her protector. Why she had done so passed 
my understanding. At no time had I a taking manner with 
women, save indeed in my capacity as a leech; and, though I 
had not got a decent view of my face for many a long day, 
I opine that my appearance had not improved, while my clothes 
were of the sorriest, and my person not over clean. Undoubtedly 
since the days of her father I was the first ordinary white man she 
had met. Melinda was not white, he was yellow, and, moreover, 
he was her grandfather; Jan Van Wyk was a shaggy giant; 
Jacob, with his white hair and his blistered face, his huge loose- 
jointed body and his genial blink, presented an aspect sufficiently 
peculiar. 

I was forced to the conclusion that this pretty maid had 
taken a sudden fancy to me solely because I realised her 
standard of the average European. It was alike a remarkable 
and embarrassing situation. Still, she was a fair lass, this ward 
of the king, with something decidedly taking in her manner. 
There were no tricks of fashion, no frills and fripperies about her. 
She wore her heart upon her sleeve, or rather on her white and 
rounded arm; and I was convinced it was a kindly, simple, and 
trusting heart, which a man would do ill to harm. Not that I 
then and there surrendered that freedom which Corkran had so 

376 


The Rivals 


377 

much commended. Nay, verily, I am of a cautious disposition, 
and my mind is to some extent logical; hence I was merely 
amused at the turn events had taken, though even then attracted by 
the maid’s face and form, and her touching confidence in myself. 

I meditated, therefore, on the strangeness of her story, on 
her lack of a surname, on the unpleasant fact that she had some 
of the old king’s blood in her, and wished I had learned more 
about this territory of Godwana, about its trade in slaves, its 
manner of worship, and the two races who accepted the sway of 
the Portuguese, Christopher Melinda. 

Then my thoughts veered round to the Dutchman, and I had 
the grace to put up a prayer of thankfulness at my happy deliver¬ 
ance from his violence. I began to perceive what manner of 
man he was; that, like Jacob, he gloried in his strength; and 
that he apparently despised any other weapons than those with 
which Nature had endowed him. 

“ Let not the strong man glory in his strength.” I recalled 
the words of the scribe, and yet felt thankful that I was myself 
gifted with a fair measure of that commodity, otherwise, instead 
of being merely stiff-necked, I had been as the two whose heads 
drooped upon their shoulders. He was jealous of me, this 
Dutchman, and was clearly a ruthless, overbearing man, however 
brave and determined. I accorded him a mead of admiration, 
for he had courage and a certain grim impassiveness which suited 
well his mighty frame and the level tones of his deep voice. 
There was none of Jacob’s blundering eagerness about him in 
moments of excitement, and from that fact alone he was a more 
dangerous assailant than the smith. He lacked humanity, this 
Jan Van Wyk; he was cool and cold-blooded, and would let 
nothing stand in his way. Moreover, he had gained the ear of 
the king, probably because he could speak Portuguese; and, 
thanks to his theft, had been the first of those visitors who had 
already sorely disturbed the peace of this savage realm. And 
none more so than Corkran, that most amazing of men. It 
seemed he had single-handed sent to their deaths those six 
copper-coloured soldiers, whom I had last seen squatting in the 
space amongst the stones far down on the mountain’s flank. I 


3 7 8 


The Golden Kingdom 


had been worried concerning him, I had feared for his safety, and 
this was the message he had sent me. No doubt it was hard 
upon the spearmen; but I lay and laughed to myself at this fresh 
evidence of my old comrade’s prowess, and vowed I had never met, 
and would never meet, the match of Corkran the Coxswain, or, as 
he would have insisted, Captain Nicholas Corkran of the Americas. 

At that time I thought also very kindly of Jacob, of his timely 
aid, his anxiety on my behalf, and his keen desire to have the 
Dutchman entirely to himself. What though his absent-minded¬ 
ness, his simplicity, his dullness of intellect rendered him 
occasionally an irritating companion? There was that in the 
great smith which made him a very lovable mortal, and my 
description of him has been indeed a poor one if that be not 
apparent in this, my narrative. 

Very naturally my imaginings wandered from him to her who 
had brought him to my rescue, and it was with a confused 
remembrance of my interview with her and a very clear vision of 
her undoubted beauty, that I at length found the rest I so much 
required. 

I was roused by one of my new guards, who brought me a 
meal, including some of Cira’s sweet cakes of millet seed, and by 
the entrance of a visitor, no other than Gozo. The head-man 
looked much perturbed, but, after seeing me unbound, courteously 
waited till I had finished eating, and, understanding my signs and 
rightly interpreting my wishes, sent forth a spearman, who pre¬ 
sently returned with a calabash of clear water, so that I enjoyed 
the luxury of a wash; albeit, I had not the wherewithal to dry 
myself. Thereafter, he caused the thongs to be again fastened 
on my wrists, and, dismissing my guard, made me a long oration, 
of which I understood no word save “ Cira,” the which was oft 
repeated with much vehemence. 

I surveyed this old savage critically as he spoke volubly and 
took snuff at intervals from a little spoon of wood, which it was 
his custom to carry thrust through a slit in one of his wide and 
pendulous ear-lobes. His crisped poll was grizzled and there 
were grey hairs in his beard plaits, his forehead was high and 
wrinkled, his eyes mud-coloured, his nose flat, his lips protuberant 


The Rivals 


379 

and his skin greasy. For all that he had an intelligent face, 
stamped with a look of worldly-wisdom and an air of command. 

“ A crafty old fox,” said I to myself; “ though Heaven knows 
what he wants.” 

One thing he did require was a sufficiency of clothes ; for 
a stout and elderly gentleman when more or less unclad is not a 
seemly spectacle, even if he be a native of Africa and have a 
copper-coloured as well as a shrunken hide. 

He finished at last and nodded thrice, till the vulture’s feathers 
set in his head-dress of tallow shook, and the snuff grains dropped 
from his nostrils. 

It was imperative that I should keep on good terms with a 
person of such importance, and consequently I made him a long 
speech in return, at which he seemed highly gratified. Thereafter 
he had the sense to go and bring me an interpreter in the shape 
of Cira herself. I managed to rise, even though my arms were 
bound behind my back; but at the sight the girl waxed indignant, 
and, after an argument with Gozo, succeeded in getting my bonds 
removed, for which I thanked her with great heartiness. She was 
again garbed in white, with the belt of scarlet beadwork encircling 
her waist; but her hair was gathered in coils about her head, so 
that one could mark the excellent shape of her neck and the 
graceful poise of her head thereupon. 

“You are not hurt ? ” she asked. 

“Not a whit,” I replied, “ thanks to you.” 

“ Nay,” she said softly ; “ thanks to your friend—he with the 
white hair and the blind eyes. Ah ! but he is a man! ” 

“Yes,” said I, a trifle sourly; “he is better able to aid you than 
I am.” 

She flashed a quick glance at me. 

“ I did not say so,” she answered simply. 

“ Nevertheless, ’tis true; had it depended wholly on me, the 
Dutchman might have wreaked his will on you.” 

“ For whom you would have died ! ” said the maid. 

“ Unwillingly,” I remarked, for there was no honesty in posing 
as a hero; but I am afraid that Cira misunderstood me, for hei 
face changed and her manner grew distant. 


The Golden Kingdom 


380 

As yet I did not know my own mind, and hailed these signs 
with some satisfaction, dolt that I was. 

Gozo had been all impatience during our brief converse, and 
now he urged the maid to explain the reason of his visit. She 
did so, somewhat listlessly, and yet the news was of the greatest 
importance. 

It seemed that there had long existed a feud between the spear¬ 
men and the hunters. The copper-coloured folk had been the 
original tenants of the plateau—a brave and warlike people, over 
whom Melinda and the daughter of the Englishwoman had gained 
ascendency owing to an ancient prophecy. It was the Portuguese 
who had devised and started the slave trade. He saw the spot 
was healthy, unlike its surroundings, and he knew that he might 
make his terms with his countrymen at the Bay de la Goa, 
whence ships plied to Madagascar, Arabia, and the Cape itself. 
He concealed his own identity, and settled down to a savage life, 
training his spearmen to make raids and forays, and drilling them 
as he had seen the soldiers of Spain drilled. They took kindly to 
their new career, and his position was confirmed; for he became a 
petty tyrant, punishing cowardice with death, and making life of 
small account. Whoever turned his back on the foe had short 
shrift on his return, and consequently the troops of Melinda 
overcame all the neighbouring tribes, and every year went farther 
afield and gathered fresh spoils and fresh glory. Caravan after 
caravan marched to the coast, and though many died from fever, 
there was always a sufficiency of survivors to be handed over to 
the Europeans in return for cloth and food-stuffs, for beads, and 
for all manner of merchandise. No doubt the Portuguese won¬ 
dered who this potentate in the interior might be. Indeed, 
several set out to discover, but they were slain secretly by order 
of Melinda, who, I fancy, was a little mad—as witness his fits— 
and was content to lord it unchallenged in the wilderness. 

A single white man flying from persecution won his way 
through, and sought and found the king’s mercy and the king’s 
daughter, as hath been told. Ere this, Melinda had established 
the corps of hunters from a very stout and fierce people, who had 
given him much trouble, and who lived in the north. These men 


The Rivals 


3 8i 

loved the chase, and the wily old king perceived that he might 
gratify them and benefit himself by adding ivory and other 
trophies to his slaves ; consequently the hunters formed part of 
the settlement, were admitted to the great kraal within the triple 
fence, and found their occupation in the wide valley to the north, 
through which coursed a clear river, and which teemed with all 
manner of game. 

On hearing this I was of opinion that Melinda had provided 
against contingencies. Fearing that one of the head-men amongst 
the copper-coloured might usurp his place and power, he had 
encouraged this black race and played off the one against the 
other, carefully retaining the balance between them, so that 
the soldiers were ever the stronger party, and yet not too strong. 

As I listened to the long tale told with some difficulty and 
diffidence, I conceived an admiration for this old rogue, who 
was as astute as a diplomatist, and surely, I thought, as rich as 
Croesus. There I was wrong, for I learned that his whole store of 
treasures and the hut containing them had been destroyed by fire, 
so that he was busy amassing fresh wealth. If not a kingdom of 
gold, this Godwana was like to hold its equivalent, and yet, as I 
reflected sadly, its wealth was the price of the lives of men. 

I asked who .were the people who lived outside the township, 
and learned these were fragments of various tribes whom the king 
had from time to time spared, and that there also lived all the 
women in special huts. Strange to relate, and yet in some 
measure touching, was the fact that since his wife died Melinda 
had remained in solitary state, and had neither taken a partner 
of his joys and sorrows, nor established a harem of dusky beauties. 
The inferior folk did the humble work—the tillage, the cattle¬ 
tending, the drawing of water, and other menial offices, and were, 
as Gozo said, of little account and very filthy in their habits. 

Such then, in brief, was the history of this strange place, but 
the reason of Gozo’s visit was the fact that there was trouble 
brewing. It appeared that the last batch of slaves brought in— 
the caravan I had seen descending the northern slope, came from 
a tribe that was an offshoot of the great tribe to which the hunters 
had belonged, and which Melinda had long since broken up and 


382 The Golden Kingdom 

dispersed. Thus there had been hot fighting, and the soldiers 
had lost heavily. Further, the hunters had seen the six dead 
bodies of the men slain by Corkran, and the four corpses which 
were the work of Jan Van Wyk. They knew the king was old 
and ailing, and believed these wonderful white men who had 
come amongst them were hostile to their rivals. Hence they were 
ripe for revolt. Gozo had discovered a plot to release the slaves, 
and murder himself and the spearmen. Further, a rumour, as 
will in time be seen, had spread amongst them, and even amongst 
the soldiers, which precipitated affairs, and more than anything 
else led to the disturbance. Matters were, indeed, serious, for the 
king, whom they had kept ignorant of the Dutchman’s doings, 
had sent him forth with a large force to kill or capture Corkran, 
and thus the garrison was weakened. 

Moreover, many soldiers were in the outposts upon the edge 
of the cliff and on the ridge, and these Gozo had not so far dared 
to recall, lest by so doing he might precipitate the rising. True, 
he spoke with contempt of the hunters, he spat on the ground as 
he named them; but I could see he was in mortal fear of them, 
and thus he had turned to us in his extremity. Would Jacob and 
I cast in our lot with the soldiers ? was what he asked. To be 
sure, he delicately hinted that if we did not do so he would be 
forced to cut our throats, but I thought it well to discard the 
consideration of this alternative, and through Cira I asked him if 
the soldiers represented the king. 

“ Yea and verily,” was his answer. 

“ And,” said I to the girl, “ does the king represent Cira.” 

“ Both soldiers and hunters are my friends,” answered the 
maid, who was sore distressed; “ for my father was the leader of 
the black men, and they loved him.” 

“ But,” said I, “ if it is a question of supremacy, whom would 
you have supreme ? ” 

" It is the soldiers who must win,” said she ; “ but even now I 
go to try to make peace.” 

“ Then,” said I, “ tell Gozo, the head-man, that we fight for 
the king, for,” I added, lowering my voice, “ by so doing we also 
fight for Cira ” 


The Rivals 383 

She heard me coldly, being still displeased, and made no 
answer. 

Exchanging a few sentences with Gozo, she stooped and left 
the hut, but as she did so, I heard the rattle of a drum and an 
incessant braying of cowhorns. 

“ Hoity-toity,” thought I; “ she is touchy, like all her sex, and 
yet I merely spoke the truth on both occasions.” 

I had not time to think further, however, for she reappeared, 
entering hastily, and spoke rapidly to Gozo. Then she turned 
to me. 

“ There is trouble with the slaves,” she said; “ and I cannot 
go, for they know me not.” 

She was interrupted by shouts and cries. 

“ Quick ! ” said she; “ we must set free your friend, and you 
must be armed. Yet is it sad and I hate this war and this place, 
and I hate you—and—and-” 

She stamped her little foot. 

“Yourself for doing so?” I hazarded, amused at her outburst, 
though she looked admirable when in a temper. 

She flushed hotly, and I smiled, the which made her very wroth 
with me, as I could tell. She was not able to trust her voice, and 
the pupils of her eyes dilated; but Gozo fortunately intervened 
and hurried us outside the hut. It was at the back of the outer 
circle, being a spearman’s dwelling, and was not far from one 
of the great sheds, where some sort of struggle was proceeding, 
for I could see the flash of steel and hear cries of pain. At the 
next hut we liberated Jacob, who had considerable difficulty in 
passing through the door, but greeted me with the most sincere 
pleasure. 

“ You are going to have your fight after all, Jacob,” I shouted. 

“ With the Dutchman ? ” he asked eagerly, saluting Cira in a 
very clumsy fashion. 

“ No,” said I; “ friend Corkran will see to him; but there is a 
revolt against the king.” 

“ He is a villain,” said the smith bluntly; “I will not help him.” 

“ But you will aid this fair lady, Jacob ?” 

“ I will aid you, Doctor Harry,” said he; “I care nothing for 



The Golden Kingdom 


3 8 4 

maids and less for kings; but give me the hammer, and I am at 
your beck and call! ” 

“ Art a worthy fellow, old comrade,” said I; “ and you will 
have your fill of it; but we have need of haste.” 

It was true, for the sound of a tumult reached us from the 
outer palisades, and Gozo tugged doubtfully at his beard-plaits 
and growled viciously. 

“ He says a body of the hunters have returned from the valley, 
and that he must summon the outposts,” said Cira; “but come, 
I will get your musket and the strange weapon.” 

We entered through the fences, and immediately thereafter the 
deep sonorous roaring of a gong filled the air. 

“ It is sounded only in time of war, or when one dies in the 
house of the king,” said Cira. “ Why is the world so cruel, and 
why must men slay each other ? ” 

Her face was pained and her eyes troubled. Poor lass ! Others 
more privileged than she had asked the same question and gone 
unsatisfied. 

Again the war-gong was beat, its separate notes blending and 
quickening to a roar which died away in a series of metallic 
clangs. 

I could picture the sentinels springing to their feet and seizing 
their weapons. Now I understood why the huts with black and 
white doors surrounded those whose doors were red. The pity 
was that the ranks of the soldiers were much depleted, and a 
third of the outer hut ring untenanted. 

Ere we reached the gap in the wall of the king’s house Gozo 
rejoined us, and Cira explained that it was his desire we should 
at first take no part in the battle, if battle there was, but should 
remain to defend the palace. Thereby, it seemed, Gozo trusted 
to surprise the enemy should they gain an early advantage; 
further, knowing that our assistance might be of the utmost value, 
he did not wish us to be killed or maimed in the open. I am 
free to confess his arguments did him credit, albeit there was 
something cowardly in lurking behind walls and palisades while 
the soldiers encountered the hunters in the open space. 

As for the king, he was too feeble to play any important part. 


The Rivals 


3 8 5 

Indeed, much of the veneration in which he was held was due to 
the fact that few, save those of the bodyguard, had seen him. He 
lived the life of a hermit, and thereby acquired a mighty reputa¬ 
tion. Again did the Latin proverb fit the case,—“quod ignotum 
pro magnifico est.” 

We hurried into the courtyard, but Melinda was not visible, 
being still abed, and unconscious of the danger which threatened 
him. 

It was Cira who brought us our weapons, and it was a sight to 
see how Jacob clutched the handle of his cherished hammer and 
heaved it aloft with a huge sigh of satisfaction, and swung it about 
his head. The girl gazed at him with eyes full of wonder and 
admiration, nor did I grudge the smith this tribute of praise. I 
was glad to get my musket and a supply of powder and shot, 
while my missing pistol was also restored to me, though it was 
useless, for my smaller bullets were at an end. Thus armed, both 
Jacob and I felt our confidence return. I inquired if there were 
other firelocks; but it seemed that Melinda forbade their import 
into Godwana, the which was scarce necessary as the Portuguese 
at the Bay de la Goa refused to trade in munition of war, fearing, 
no doubt, to be, as one might say, “ hoist with their own petard.” 

For all that, the soldiers, as I have said before, were familiar 
with firearms, for every warrior in his youth had journeyed to the 
coast with the caravans of slaves. Cira led us into the house, 
which was furnished with some pretensions to comfort, and, 
ascending an inner stair, we gained a small loft, from which a 
window opened on the roof and commanded an extensive 
prospect. We looked out on to the southern slopes, and likewise 
to east and west; we saw the gathering of hovels where lived the 
women and the menials, we had a view of the open space within 
the triple fence. From the various lodges of the sentinels, and 
especially that which we had passed after our capture, men were 
hurrying towards the great kraal. The sun struck upon their 
glittering spear-points, and on their shields of black and white. 
Yet were they still far off, and showed as tiny travelling figures, 
running with the ease and grace of the native savage. Again the 
gong bellowed and clanged, and they seemed to stoop and 

25 


The Golden Kingdom 


386 

quicken their pace as they realised the urgency of the summons. 
There was need. The hut cluster without the triple fence was 
swarming with an excited mob, amongst which moved men with 
red shields and red plumes. 

“ See ! ” said Cira; “ the hunters give them spears.” 

It was true, the very menials were siding against us, though the 
women of the place stood apart in two separate bodies, and kept 
up a constant lamentation, throwing dust upon their heads, and 
beating their breasts. These, as Cira told us, were respectively 
the wives of the hunters and the soldiers. They seemed to me 
tall and well built, with their hair dressed in the Caffre fashion, so 
that it stood back from the head like a stiff horn, being clubbed 
with tallow. 

At that moment a woman joined us, Cira’s body servant, who 
had been her nurse, an old and toothless hag, with the mumbling 
jaw of age, but with shrewd and kindly eyes, and, I was thankful 
to note, a sufficiency of clothing. Maquita she was named, and 
that she doted on her charge was evident. Cira spoke kindly to 
her, and the old woman shook her head, and assumed such an 
aspect of woe and distress that I was moved to sympathy. It 
seemed she had two sons in the ranks of the soldiers, and that 
one of them was with the Dutchman. For him, indeed, she did 
well to be anxious; as for the other, time alone would show, but 
so far there was no bloodshed. Yet Gozo was busy marshalling 
his men, forming them in a double line, while already he had the 
stabbers, as they were called, placed between the palisades which 
surrounded the palace. 

The trouble was that half the hunters were already in the open 
space, and it was doubtful if the guard could hold the outer 
fences. The position was indeed peculiar. Farthest away were 
Gozo’s reinforcements, speeding to his aid, then came the hunters, 
newly returned from the valley, and others who had been beyond 
the kraal. With these were also the menials whom they had 
stirred to revolt, but who probably counted for little, being accus¬ 
tomed to wielding the hoe and the cattle-stick rather than the 
spear. At the outer gate, and lurking at the loop-holes in the 
great and triple barrier, were the soldiers, or the guard of Gozo as 


The Rivals 


3 8 7 

they were called. They also held the inner gate of these defences, 
and faced a great body of the hunters, who had left their huts 
and gathered in the open space. These had enemies on either 
side, for Gozo and the king’s guard held the approaches to the 
main building, whence we were spectators of the whole scene. 

Now, lest this description be not plain to the reader, I have 
got one, cunning in the art of drawing, to compass a plan of the 
place, so that any with common sense and a perception of things 
may perceive what manner of kraal was this of Godwana, and 
what was the disposition of these rival factions on the eve of the 
great fight. 

I have said the hunters had enemies on either side, but this 
disadvantage was more than counterbalanced by their superior 
numbers, and by the fact that they were even then liberating the 
slaves in both barrancas. Gozo could not spare men to restrain 
them, for his little force was fully employed in surrounding the 
inner fences, though most of it was massed in front, as is indeed 
delineated most excellently in red and black by my most worthy 
of artists. 


CHAPTER XXXII 


WE FIGHT FOR THE KING 

By reason of this curious division of forces, it befell that the 
contest began beyond the confines of the township, and for a 
time was limited thereto, those within the great fence hesitating 
to join battle till they could see who would gain the day without, 
and whether or no the guard of Gozo, the head-man, would prove 
equal to their task. The height of the palisades would prevent 
them from witnessing what occurred, and thus we alone were 
in a position to mark how the day fared, and with which side 
rested victory. Still, let it be noted, that we could not see the 
stabbers crouching at the outer and triple ring, though the open 

ground beyond was plain to our view, and thus we were 

spectators of the first meeting of the dappled shields and those 
which were red. 

Onwards sped the sentinels, swift as flying buck, and the 
foremost party of them, three in number, drew near, and made 

for the great gate. Suddenly they found their way barred by 

some twenty of the hunters, who shook their spears at them, and 
then, crouching low, went through the evolutions of their curious 
drill. The three copper-coloured, tall and lean men, stood 
irresolute, and watched their display. Their wisest course would 
have been to tarry till they were joined by the other sentinels; 
but, as I was to learn, they were a proud-stomached race in 
battle, these soldiers of Godwana, and presently, calling to each 
other, they moved forward. The hunters at once began to close 
in, so as to obstruct their passage, and, seeing this, the dauntless 


Wc Fight for the King 389 

three made ready for the charge. In a moment their wide 
shields covered them from eyes to knees, each right hand grasped 
a small throwing-spear, and, shoulder to shoulder, they rushed 
downhill upon the hunters. 

I watched them breathlessly. A shower of light hunting- 
javelins, used in the pursuit of buck and buffalo, met them full 
in the face ; but they were not to be denied. They cast their 
assegais in return, and one of the black men fell flat upon his 
face and lay still. 

Then a roar of “ Cira ! ” went up from them, and at the sound 
the girl started. 

“These be men of my company!” she cried, “and call my 
name.” She leaned forth, with eyes fixed upon them. “ Ah ! 
will they live ?—will they live? ” she asked eagerly. 

“ Heaven grant it! ” said I. “ But they are brave rather than 
wise, and the odds are heavy.” 

Though they were far from us, we clearly heard the shock of 
their impact as they burst upon the foe, and—for they were 
taller men than the hunters—we marked the vultures’ feathers 
rising above the press. Spear-blades flashed in the sun, and 
the red plumes darted hither and thither; but so stout-hearted 
were these warriors of the corps of sentinels that it looked as 
though they would break through. The lie of the ground 
favoured them, and so the mass of men surged down the slope, 
and still the black-and-white towered above the scarlet, though 
the broad stabbing blades no longer shone as they were raised aloft. 

Nearer and nearer whirled the fighting company, and left 
behind them on the grass those who were stretched motionless 
and those who sat helplessly, leaning heavily on one arm, and 
with heads drooping in the death-sickness. I looked, and every 
one of these was a hunter; and some, I doubted not, were ruddy 
as their shields. 

All at once the whole fierce fight was swallowed up by a fold 
in the ground, and we could see nothing of the combatants, nor 
did any sound of conflict reach us. 

“ Cira,” said I, “ ’tis not fitting you should witness this 
slaughter ” 


390 The Golden Kingdom 

Indeed, the maid was shaking like an aspen, and her cheeks 
were lily-white. She shook her head. 

“ Let be,” she answered in a low, strained voice. “ I must 
see whether or no they escape the death. Are they not men of 
my company ? ” 

We watched together, even Jacob staring eagerly abroad, 
though he could see nothing of the fight, and had never done so. 
The minutes passed, and then a figure sprang upon the rise 
nearest us and flourished his weapon aloft. 

“Alas!” said I; “the three have joined a greater company 
than yours.” For this man who had come up out of the pit of 
slaughter bore crimson feathers on his head and was of the colour 
and stature of the hunters. 

At my words the poor lass broke down utterly, being, indeed, 
tender-hearted and unnerved by all that had come into her life 
these past few days. By signs I got the old woman, Maquita, 
to lead her away, though she would not quit the room, and was 
vexed with herself, albeit her grief was but evidence of the 
womanliness of her heart. 

“These three were indeed men,” said I to Jacob; and 
with good reason, for w'hereas full twenty of the hunters had 
gone into the fray, there were but six who joined that solitary 
figure whose appearance had signalled to us which way the fight 
had gone. 

Scarce was one conflict at an end when another began, for the 
sentinels, seeing the fate of the fighting trio, massed together, 
and made a determined effort to reach the gate. A fresh body 
of hunters, along with many of the broken tribes, encountered 
them, outnumbered them, and ere long wholly surrounded them. 
The guard of Gozo was unable to render them help, for, as we 
judged from cries and shouts raised in the rear, an effort was 
being made to scale the outermost of the palisades, and the 
stabbers were busy repelling the invaders. 

Hitherto the battle had been waged in comparative silence, 
save for the wailing of the women and the single battle-cry of the 
three who lay dead in the hollow. Now, however, fierce passions 
were let loose, and fierce yells rang out, while the hunters in the 


Wc Fight for the King 391 

open space began to taunt Gozo and his men of the king’s guard, 
and fling curses at them, together with mud and stones. 

There was no response, and the conduct of the little savage 
with the leopard’s skin and the plaited beard was indeed 
admirable. He moved up and down in front of his double 
line of braves, and did not so much as look upon the evil 
rabble, which, despite its numbers, yet feared to attack him till 
they knew how matters fared beyond the barricades. 

Suddenly he stopped, and, looking up, called out to us. I 
summoned Cira; and he repeated his question—for question 
it was. 

“ He asks who is gaining the victory,” she said. 

“So far the soldiers do well,” I answered. “They are 
pressing forward, and keep together. Tell him it is hopeful.” 

She did so, and he nodded gravely, while every man of his 
company waited in an expectant attitude and hearkened to the 
sounds of strife which filled the air. I had spoken the truth, but 
it was not long ere things took a turn for the worse. The seven 
who had survived regained their breath, and, being of high spirit 
and no doubt drunk with the lust of battle, they rushed down¬ 
wards and hurled themselves into the melee. In vain the 
sentinels plied their spears, in vain they shouted their rallying cry, 
in vain they strove to reach the gate. One after another the 
plumes of black and white sank to rise no more, but still the 
remnant clubbed together in a compact mass, and still they beat 
back the lithe and eager hunters who sprang at them with a valour 
well-nigh the equal of their own. 

For the moment I forgot all that depended on the issue of the 
struggle and was merely a spectator, horrified, it is true, but yet 
interested in the extreme. I believe I shouted to encourage the 
soldiers—I have no doubt I plied them with advice; but I re¬ 
member nothing of it save that the sweat ran down my face as 
though I myself were one of the combatants. 

It was a fair day, bright and still, and great hawks soared aloft 
far off above the southern cliff edge. A gorgeous yellow butterfly, 
with a blue bordering to its wings, came and lit on the warm 
thatch of the roof near me, and a bird like a wagtail perched on 


The Golden Kingdom 


39 2 

one of the inner palisades and chirruped cheerfully the while he 
bobbed and flicked his feathers. I saw both bird and insect, 
and could scarce believe that men were battling for dear life a 
hundred yards away. 

“ Can we not go and help? ” said Jacob. “ If these men are 
as you say, ’twere a pity they should perish.” 

“ No, no ! ” I answered. “ Old Gozo is wise, and our turn will 
come.” 

I thought of the maid, and for the first time fear crept into my 
heart. She might be friendly with the hunters, but would they 
spare her if they triumphed? Would black savages, mad with fury, 
hold their hands in the hour of victory ? The thought chilled me, 
and the reality of it all came home to me and set my nerves 
quivering, proved, tried, and hardened though they were. No 
wonder, for in a brief space every man of the sentinels was down, 
though each had taken heavy toll of his adversaries. 

An exultant shout went up from the hunters, and was answered 
by their comrades within the outer palisades. 

“ How goes it, my son ? ” Again Gozo put the question, and 
again Cira answered him. 

“Yet will we wait, my wolves and I,” he answered. “Is 
Kulolo ready with the fire-maker ? ” 

Now Kulolo was the name he had bestowed on me, and 
signified “ he who struck from a distance.” 

Cira replied in the affirmative, for my musket was loaded and 
I had chipped the flint. 

“ And Sabe-Sabaka ? What of Sabaka ? ” he called up softly, 
meaning the white white one, or the great white man, as Jacob 
had been named. 

“ He hath his strange weapon, and, though he sees not, 
yet his heart is stout,” was the maid’s reply, according to 
herself. 

“ It is well,” said Gozo, and spoke to the king’s guard, along 
whose lines there ran a murmur of satisfaction. 

Very musical was the speech of Godwana, despite its click and 
the frequency of the letter “ k ” therein. It was otherwise with 
the tongue spoken by the hunters, which was harsh and barbarous, 


Wc Fight for the King 393 

and never more so than, when drunk with slaughter, they charged 
the keepers of the outer gate. 

Loud rose the battle cry of “ Gozo ” as his guard met them face 
to face, and I could see the little man was proud of hearing it, 
and that, more than ever, his strut resembled that of the fighting 
gamecock. 

Terrible was the struggle beneath the tusks of the elephant, yet 
it was but little we could see from the roof, for the men were 
sheltered from our view by the lofty fences. It needed not a 
sight of the combatants, however, to impress us with the grimness 
of the stand made by the guard of Gozo. That was evidenced by 
the shrill yelling of excited blacks, by the screams and sobs of 
wounded men, by the sound of blows, by the loud repeated 
shouting of the watchword. 

All the time the women wailed amongst their huts; all the 
time the stabbers were busy in the rear, though few strove to 
scale the defences in that quarter. Indeed, so narrow was the 
space between each palisade, and so high were they, that few 
could spring up and seize and mount upon them. Once, indeed, I 
saw a red plume rise above the second fence, and beheld a black 
and agile savage fling his legs across it; but next moment there 
was a flash, and a throwing spear passed clean through him. The 
lean blade stood out behind his back, and the drops gathered and 
dripped from its lower edge, the while the long and slender haft 
vibrated to and fro as though still speeding through the air. The 
man loosed his grasp upon his spear, started convulsively, and 
then doubled up and fell head downwards ; but the hollow of his 
knees clung to the summit of the barricade, and there he hung, 
plume downwards, and there I found him hanging when the fight 
was done. Done, I say ; but it was only then beginning, as I knew 
when some half-dozen of the copper-coloured, together with the 
guard of the inner gate, suddenly broke out from the inner fence, 
and darted through the ranks of the hunters and the liberated 
slaves. They were mad with terror, and stabbed wildly at the foe 
as they passed. Foam was on their lips, their eyes were wide open 
and staring, and their spears red to the handle-butts; their plumes 
were shorn, their shields gashed and ruddy as their crimson hands. 


394 The Golden Kingdom 

The old woman drew Cira away from the window, and the lass 
went willingly, being sick at heart, though she gave no sign of 
fear. It was as well she did not see what happened, for, weak 
though Gozo’s forces were, he did not hesitate. As the beaten 
soldiers of his guard reached the lines he gave an order, and 
raised his staff with the snake carved upon it. There and then his 
men sprang upon the vanquished, who, poor fools ! might as well 
have died with their faces and not their backs to the pursuing enemy. 

Stern indeed was the discipline of Melinda the King. 

“ Doctor Harry—Doctor Harry! ” I heard Jacob cry, and knew 
that at last he saw what was happening. 

“ Steady, my lad ! ” I answered. “ ’Tis for our lives. See, it has 
had its effect. They know now the temper of the king’s guard.” 

It was true. The eager mob which had chased the hapless 
spearmen broke into the space and mingled with their fellows and 
the slaves; but for a brief space they paused irresolute as they 
saw what Gozo had done and realised what manner of men were 
those who ringed about the palace of the king. 

The old chief looked up. 

“ Kulolo! ” said he, and I understood it was time for me to 
play my part in the fray. 

I knelt and trained my musket on a black hide, and then I 
understood that strange pleasure in war which is the joy of the 
soldier. I had shot the beasts of the field—ay, even the lordly 
buffalo, and once the lion himself; but though I was for the 
nonce safe from attack, and could take my own time and pick my 
own quarry, never did I thrill as I did then. It is one thing to 
shoot an animal and quite another to shoot a man. 

“ Oh for an hour of Corkran ! ” was my thought; and yet I did 
none so badly, for as my musket cracked, the hunter next that 
one I had aimed at leaped high in the air and fell forward on his 
face. The range was long, but it was apparent I could not miss. 
They were too closely packed together. 

For the first time the hunters realised the white men were 
against them, and great was their consternation. Further, they 
were not acquainted with firearms, like the soldiers, and were filled 
with dread. The slaves were utterly astounded, and cast them- 


We Fight for the King 395 

selves on the ground and lay there motionless, covering their 
heads with their hands. I reloaded with all haste, and again sent 
a bullet into their ranks. It slew none, but must have inflicted 
a single wound at least. As the smoke cleared I saw a few of 
the more faint-hearted beginning to crowd out at the gate in the 
inner fence, intent on finding shelter. I withdrew from the window 
to reload, and thus it happened that Gozo’s plans were utterly 
upset, and my chance of completing the discomfiture of the 
hunters at small loss to our side was ruined. Jacob Little was 
the man who ruined it. The smith took my place, and was so 
interested in what was passing that, forgetting the sill was low and 
his legs were long, he leaned far out, overbalanced, and, unable to 
save himself, went sliding down the steep, thatched roof. I let 
go the musket and sprang at his disappearing feet; but I was too 
late, and over the edge he dropped, still clutching his hammer. 
Fortunately the fall was trivial, and he had turned round so that 
he would land upon his side. Thus, though I heard a solid thud 
as the smith went to earth, I was not greatly concerned about his 
bones. Nor was there need. It was the bones of other folk 
which were in danger. Jacob speedily reappeared, and, being in 
a mortal hurry, as was ever his way when excited, he blundered 
against the second of the three fences which surrounded the 
palace, there being, as is apparent in the drawing, no gate at that 
part of it. 

A gate here or there was, however, a small matter to the mighty 
smith. He recoiled, and then, swinging his hammer, brought it 
crashing down upon one of the posts. The latter broke across, 
and Jacob plucked out the upper part of it, and then tore a way 
through the reeds, dragging a great length of the palisade to the 
ground, much to the amazement of the spearmen who watched 
the loopholes and those who guarded the outer entrance. They 
made way for him, and with a shout the smith ran clumsily 
through the gap. 

“ Kunzi—kunzi! the bull—the bull! ” yelled the stabbers, and, 
forgetful of their charge, made haste to follow such a leader. 

“ Sabe-Sabaka ! ” howled the warriors of the king’s guard, and 
broke their ranks to let him pass. 


The Golden Kingdom 


39 6 

In vain Gozo tried to stop him. Jacob brushed the little man 
aside as though he had been a fly, and with the whole company 
of the copper-coloured at his heels, bore down upon the hunters, 
the menials, and the slaves. It was impossible to fire, and I 
could only stand and stare at this astonishing spectacle. Cira 
crept to my side. 

“ Ah, he is indeed a man ! ” she murmured, and in that moment 
I knew my own heart, for I was jealous of the praise she bestowed 
on Jacob. 

Yes, I confess to such pettiness—to such a cowardly feeling; 
and yet it only fastened upon me because I was under the spell 
of her beauty and her artless ways. I came very near bundling 
out of the window also and joining in the charge, in the hope 
that she might rank me equally with my comrade, who for love of 
me had for many a month led a life he hated. Yet I forgot 
everything when I saw Jacob plunge amongst the foe—everything 
but a fear lest he might come to harm, for a spear point is no 
respecter of persons, and the smith was but flesh and blood, how¬ 
ever magnificent in stature. At first those he encountered seemed 
only concerned in getting out of his way, and fled as they would 
have done from an infuriated elephant. I noticed that he spared 
them, content with the consternation he had produced, and too 
brave a man to strike down a flying foe. Not so the soldiers 
who, covered by their shields, ran in with levelled spears and 
slew all they met. 

The gate became choked with fugitives, and black forms sprang 
at the inner fence and strove to scale it. The din of battle 
swelled into a roar, and over all there echoed the war-cry of the 
king’s guard—“ M’linda, M’linda ! ” 

For a time there was no counter-shout, and I looked upon the 
day as won, when from the direction of the barrancas a dozen and 
more hunters came running and calling out their watchword. 
They fell upon the rear of the soldiery, and the other red shields, 
plucking up heart, began to show fight, so that presently the 
guard were swallowed up by the dense mass, who bore scarlet 
plumes, and then for the first time I saw Jacob’s hammer swung 
aloft. He towered above the throng, and dealt his blows un- 


397 


We Fight for the King 

sparingly. The press was so close about him that men could not 
wield even their short spears, and thus, as best he could, he 
singled out those who bore scarlet feathers, and brought his 
dread weapon crashing upon their skulls, In vain as men dropped, 
shields were thrust up as guards; he beat them down. In vain 
they strove to close in upon him when he had cleared a space. 
He leaped at them, and they scattered, while the guard, keeping 
shoulder to shoulder, protected him in the rear. The smith, who 
had chafed at his captivity, was assuredly revelling in this fight. 
I recalled how he had dealt with the slaves aboard the Kittiwake , 
but then his heart was not in the conflict, while now he felt him¬ 
self justified, for these were armed men he met, who, so to speak, 
were worthy of his steel. 

Thus he fought, and gloried in his fighting, while Gozo stood 
apart and cursed him, for the little chief could ill afford to lose 
men, and not a few of the king’s guard had fallen beneath the 
spear-thrusts of the hunters. 

Moreover, a new danger arose. Jacob had drawn off those who 
guarded the immediate defences of the palace, and thus a half- 
dozen savages who had scaled the outer palisade in the rear found 
ready access. It was Gozo who first saw them, and he darted 
back to take up his stand at the archway, but was swept into the 
courtyard, as I could tell by the noise below me. I ran from the 
room and found him on the gallery at the head of the steps 
making good his stand against them. 

“ Ho, Kulolo ! ” he cried joyfully, and added something the 
meaning of which I did not then understand, but which I 
thereafter understood to signify that brains were better than brute 
strength. 

Certainly it was well I had not joined Jacob, for my musket 
was of great service, and I picked off two of the enemy. Another 
batch, however, came crowding in from under the arch, and Gozo 
was wounded in the groin while I myself was struck in the 
shoulder by a throwing spear. Hitherto I had fought for the 
king; now I fought for Cira even as we were driven back step by 
step and I had to ply the butt. These hunters battled with the 
courage of the beasts they hunted, and were all the fiercer in that 


The Golden Kingdom 


398 

they had thought to gain plunder and meet with no resistance. 
They pressed me sorely till my breath was well-nigh spent, while 
even Gozo panted. Yet he had a great heart for so small a body, 
and stood by me stoutly, so that none passed us ; and Cira, I told 
myself, was yet safe. I imagined her crouching in terror in the 
room, but there I was wrong. 

Five of our assailants were dead or wounded, but Gozo had 
received a second gash in the chest, while the stock of my musket 
was cracked. It would have gone hard with us had not help 
come from an unexpected quarter. 

We were, as I have said, on the gallery which ran round the 
inner wall of the palace, and our assailants had forced us from the 
head of the steps and gained a footing, when from behind them 
a shrill voice sounded, and caused them to turn about in dismay. 

“ Corkran! ” you cry, good reader, knowing his knack of 
appearing in the hour of peril and perchance longing for his 
presence even as I did. Not so; the voice was that of the 
Portuguese, and at his side stood the girl Cira. She carried a 
short spear, as she had done when first I saw her, but there was 
no need for her to use it. At the sight of the king, whom, it 
afterwards appeared, they had believed to be dead—and indeed, 
as I have hinted, this had been one of the chief causes of the 
revolt—the rebel hunters cast down their weapons and fled with 
one accord across the courtyard, through the archway and the 
broken fences out into the open space, crying aloud in their own 
tongue : 

“ The king lives ! The king lives ! ” 

Mark you, they had never before set eyes on Christopher 
Melinda, and yet they knew him at once to be the ruler of the 
realm. Better than any words of mine will this explain the 
masterful look of the old villain, his commanding presence, and 
the surprising strength and dignity of his voice. To be sure, his 
cloak of leopard-skin and curious headpiece of the same material 
may have brought conviction to our assailants; but there was a 
flash in his keen black eyes and a rude magnificence in his pose, 
as he stood with one long arm outstretched, which of themselves 
was sufficient, while the very appearance of extreme age which he 


We Fight for the King 399 

presented conferred upon him a venerable air in keeping with 
his character. 

Cira had slipped out of the room during the heat of the fight, 
and, hurrying unseen past our backs, had roused the old 
Portuguese, and fetched him forth, knowing the superstitious 
reverence in which he was held both by soldiers and by hunters. 
Her ruse had been successful, and we were saved—ay, and the 
greater conflict was likewise at an end, for as we stood there upon 
the gallery, Gozo and I dripping from our wounds and yet 
panting from our exertions, there arose a mighty clamour from 
without, and then there burst into the courtyard, with Jacob in 
their midst, the whole mob which had been warring desperately 
at the inner gate. 

Dappled shields and crimson shields, vultures’ features, and the 
red plumes of scarlet cranes, dark, unarmed menials, and wild, 
untamed, and liberated slaves—ay, even the women, both 
copper-coloured and black, swept in upon us in one eager, 
questioning throng, trampling underfoot Cira’s garden and the 
bodies of those we had slain. 

They were covered with sweat and blood; they were breathing 
hard; many were wounded, and all were full of uncontrolled 
excitement. But they no longer grappled at each others’ throats. 
In they rushed, jostling one another in the mad stampede, and 
flocking together, wild of eye and hideous in aspect. Never had 
I witnessed such a scene; and, strangest sight of all was Jacob 
Little towering head and shoulders above the tallest of them, his 
face streaked, his head bare, his eyes blinking vigorously as he 
strove to understand what it all meant. His hammer was gone; 
nothing remained but the handle broken off where it had joined 
the head, and consequently his aspect was exceeding rueful. 
Like the rest, he had ceased to fight, and once the rush was at an 
end and the courtyard packed with the swaying multitude, he 
stood and scratched his white poll in puzzled surprise, and looked 
about him with his uninjured eye, while from well-nigh every 
other throat went up the cry of those who had fled before us: 

“ The king lives ! The king lives ! ” 


CHAPTER XXXIII 

THE KING'S DECREE 

Sudden indeed, and in its way savouring of the dramatic, had been 
the termination of the struggle; but I confess I did not see how all 
this uproar would end. For the space of half an hour the mob 
shouted aloud with the utmost vehemence, and all the time 
Melinda grasped the rail and looked down upon them. The 
noise was deafening, and though the king essayed to speak, his 
voice was drowned, and they would not hearken to him. 

“ The king lives ! ” they roared. “ The king lives ! ” crying 
senselessly, like the Ephesians of old. 

Gozo, faint with loss of blood, clung also to the rail; but I 
supported him, made him lie down upon the boards, and Cira, 
perceiving his plight, brought me the wherewithal to staunch his 
wounds and bind them up. 

The old chief was very grateful, and nodded his head and 
smiled grimly, repeating over and over again the only word I 
understood, to wit, “Kulolo.” Thereafter the maid insisted on 
dressing my own shoulder, although the wound was none so 
serious. However, she was determined, and so by my directions, 
and I had to shout for her to hear me, she made a sling in which 
my arm might rest, and made fast the ends of it about my neck. 
I thrilled at the soft touch of her fingers, and sooth to say, she 
had never looked fairer than when thus employed upon a work of 
mercy. I contrasted her with the yelling horde below us, and 
could scarce conceive how so dainty a plant had been reared 
among such people. 


400 


4 oi 


The King’s Decree 

“ ’Tis little of Melinda’s blood she has,” was my unspoken 
thought, and concluded that her father must have been a very 
worthy fellow, the while I understood why the woman who had 
been her grandmother had been also the cause of so much 
dissension and the undoing of Luis da Cardoso. “This is no 
place for her,” thought I, and then and there resolved to lead 
her forth from this savage home of hers, and bestow her amongst 
folk of her own colour and of the Christian faith. 

It was an easy resolve to make; but my heart sank when I 
considered the difficulties which must lie before me. I was none 
too certain that Cira would come, for one thing; and how was she 
to face the perils of a journey to the sea, the deadly fever, the 
beasts of prey, the heavy toil beneath a burning sun, the danger 
from the savage, and the lack of wholesome water ? Vain thoughts! 

I had but to glance aside, and there was the howling and excited 
multitude. It behoved me to consider the present rather than 
the future, for who could say how all this turmoil and vehemence 
was to end ? Little, even at that moment, did I imagine how it 
was in reality to terminate; but the beginning of the end was 
suddenly announced by the roar of the great war-gong, pealing 
and bellowing above all other sounds, rising high even above 
the strident shout of those who roared: “ The king lives, the 
king lives ! ” 

“ What might this portend ? ” I asked myself. “ What new 
development was I to expect ? ” 

As the sonorous clanging died away it left behind it a dead 
stillness, save for the breathing of many hurried breaths, the 
shuffling of many bare feet, and the occasional creak of wood 
yielding under pressure. A moment so, and then there was a 
disturbance at the archway. Some of the people slipped through 
it, and into the space thus made there pushed the form of Jan 
Van Wyk. Stooping low, he entered through the arch, and then 
reared himself erect, towering above the press even as Jacob 
towered, and faced the king unflinchingly. Some six of the 
soldiers followed him, and I knew he had returned from his 
quest, and was about to make his report. Great, therefore, was 
my anxiety. 


26 


402 


The Golden Kingdom 


I forgot all but Corkran; I forgot that the Dutchman’s 
presence with his considerable body of men probably ensured 
peace, and would overawe the hunters—forgot what his return 
might mean to Cira and myself—was conscious only of a great 
eagerness to learn how my old man of the sea had fared. Was 
he dead, was he a prisoner, or had he once again proved himself 
to be, as I had declared to Melinda, a man hard to beat ? 

At sight of Jan Van Wyk, from whose impassive face one 
could gather nothing, Cira uttered a cry of dismay, but on this 
occasion sought the king’s side, as though she esteemed him her 
proper protector. Gozo, lying propped up against the wall, drew 
his brows together in a frown, and I could see he did not relish 
the Dutchman’s reappearance at this juncture. He mumbled to 
himself, and then, ashamed of showing any sign of emotion, filled 
his nostrils with snuff and turned his keen old face towards 
Melinda, who was quivering with passion at having been unable 
to make himself heard. The latter spoke at length in the 
tongue of Godwana, and the tones of his voice were bitter 
and scathing. I could not tell what he said, but his words 
had their due effect, and the people began to slink out quietly, 
like men under a curse. 

Louder and louder shrilled the king’s harsh, dissonant voice, 
and I, for one, feared he would lapse into another fit. But no; he 
stood leaning over the rail, and poured forth his wrath and fury 
on the mob, which melted away before him. The man had a 
strange power of utterance and a certain majesty about him, 
while the venom of his speech may not be described. Suffice 
it to say that he cleared the courtyard, till there remained none 
but the Dutchman and his six spearmen, Jacob Little, and those 
who had been trampled underfoot. 

“ Hambake !” commanded the king, and Jan Van Wyk drew 
near, caressing his thick beard and glancing about him with 
shifty eyes. 

Thereupon the king questioned him quickly in the Portuguese, 
and Jan Van Wyk answered him readily and with a cool assurance, 
from which I argued the worst. 

“ Kulolo! ” muttered Gozo, and added something which I 


The King’s Decree 403 

learned thereafter meant, “This man speaketh the truth, or is 
the father of lies himself.” 

In vain I endeavoured to discover what had happened; and at 
length, being unable to remain any longer in doubt, I called out 
to Cira, asking her what Jan Van Wyk announced. 

I was answered by the man himself. 

“ I do but give the king the news of the death of the kapitein 
who in times past slew my friend Obed Schryner,” said he. 

“ And you lie ! ” I cried, though I could scarce doubt him, so 
steady his gaze, so unmoved his voice. 

A slow smile gathered in the man’s eyes, though his shaggy 
hair hid the twitchings of his mouth. 

“ I think not,” he replied, “ and as a proof I have brought this 
back with me ! *’ 

He thrust a hand within his coat, and presently withdrew a 
mass of rough and reddish hair, which I have once likened to a 
ship’s mop. 

It was the very wig of which Corkran was so proud. 

A grim chuckle burst from Melinda, and he spoke to Cira. 

“ What says the king ? ” I asked, sick at heart, and striving 
against hope to he hopeful. 

“ He says he has beaten the man hard to beat,” answered the 
girl sorrowfully. 

“ If so,” I cried hotly, and with a voice full of grief and dismay, 
“ I warrant he is not the only man who has died.” 

“ That also is true,” said Jan Van Wyk; “he was a great fighter, 
was this Kapitein Corkran, the best I have ever known.” 

This last speech carried conviction with it; and yet I strove 
to be a sceptic, for now, as ever, I relied on Captain Nicholas to 
bring things to a successful issue. Despite all my past experiences, 
I knew I was not fitted for this wild and violent life, while Jacob 
Little was even less suited to it. Corkran was our sheet anchor, 
and if he were gone, then indeed we would be in a sorry plight. 
Thus I mused hastily, and in much grief and perplexity; but 
my thoughts were soon to be turned into another channel. 

The king was finding fault with Jan Van Wyk, who had handed 
him the trophy. I gathered it was on account of the losses he 


404 The Golden Kingdom 

had sustained, for Corkran had made so stout a defence that half 
the Dutchman’s party had fallen or were wounded. He himself 
had been grazed by a ball which carried off the tip of one ear. 
This sight gave me inward satisfaction; and yet I reflected 
that Captain William Catchpenny would have accounted it a bad 
miss and unworthy of a woodman of the Virginias. The king 
soundly rated Van Wyk ; but all his rage had little effect on the 
stolid giant of a man, who, I was glad to note, was unarmed. The 
same fact, howbeit, testified to his courage. 

Of a sudden an idea seemed to enter Melinda’s head. He 
signed to Gozo, who whistled shrilly, as he had done at our first 
encounter, and certain of the king’s guard entered. These 
received an order, and, after disappearing below the gallery, they 
reappeared with what I took to be the chair of state—a wooden 
seat mounted upon poles. It was caparisoned with crimson 
cloth and surmounted by a fringed canopy, and altogether was 
the only article I had seen which possessed a regal look. 

Melinda mounted upon it with some difficulty, for his legs were 
tremulous, and he had all the hesitation and irritability of an old 
man. Once securely seated, four of the spearmen acted as 
bearers, and, others having entered, a procession was formed, Gozo 
being supported on the shoulders of two of the guard. The chair 
was lowered at the archway, and pushed through it, and we one 
and all followed, full of wonder as to what would happen next. 

We passed over the broken second line of fence, and so out 
into the open space, where was gathered the whole community, 
and where the dead lay thick at the inner gate. Already there were 
signs that it would take but little to send the populace flying at each 
others’ throats. Thanks to the Dutchman’s return, the soldiers 
were slightly in the ascendancy, but many hunters had survived 
the fight; and these and their allies had drawn apart with faces 
black as thunder clouds and fingers itching at their spear handles. 
The sight of the royal chair and the royal personage, however, 
banished all such signs of slumbering ferocity. 

“ M’linda! ” they shouted, and every man and woman—ay, even 
the children, for there were many such, threw themselves upon their 
faces and beat softly with their foreheads on the hard earth. It 


405 


The King’s Decree 

appeared that the chair had not been seen for a generation, and 
the sight impressed these beholders as nothing else could have 
done. The poles, each carved, like Gozo’s staff, to represent a 
snake with open mouth, remained on the shoulders of the 
bearers, and, thus borne aloft, the king spoke. Albeit the burden 
of his speech was unintelligible to me, I understood wherein 
much of the power of the Portuguese must have lurked. The man 
had the gift of oratory; his gestures, his quickly changing features, 
the modulations of his voice, all proclaimed the fact. At one time 
his speech was low and infinitely sad and mournful ; at another 
he was sputtering in fiery eloquence. Now his utterance was bitter 
and scornful; anon it was so sweet and plaintive that one might 
have deemed him a lovesick maid. The power which Corkran 
wielded in song, this withered piece of humanity with the piercing 
eyes and the skinny fingers exercised in speech, but more abun¬ 
dantly and to greater purpose. The tongue of Godwana is 
musical, as I have said, and lends itself to the expression of the 
emotions, and never have I heard the passions which shake man¬ 
kind so truly and convincingly expressed as by Christopher 
Melinda. If such was the effect of his words on me, conceive how 
they affected the dusky multitude before him. Soldiers, hunters, 
menials, slaves, women, and little children sat as though transfixed, 
nor uttered a sound till he had done. They were silent as 
the corpses at the gates—as he who hung head downwards on the 
fence; but as the king, leaning forward and pointing towards the 
southern cliff, finished in a whirlwind of words, the vessels 
pulsating in his temples and a dew of sweat upon his wrinkled 
skin, there went up a shout of jubilation and assent. 

Whatever he had decreed it had found favour with his people, 
and, looking at their faces, aglow with excitement and expecta¬ 
tion, I understood they anticipated something to their liking, and 
had lost all hatred of each other in their eagerness to put to the 
test this proposal of their king. 

Cira’s back was to me, and she was some distance away, so 
that she could not enlighten me. I gathered, however, she was 
in some way concerned, for her head was bent and her face buried 
in her hands. True, Gozo nodded and grinned as if to reassure 


406 The Golden Kingdom 

me, but I was impressed with a sense of impending danger. I 
had no opportunity to speak to Jacob Little, nor would I deign 
to address Van Wyk, though he was nearest me. The shout 
came and went, and in a moment we were ringed about by spear¬ 
men. My musket was useless, Jacob had nothing but the 
splintered handle of his hammer, the Dutchman had no weapon. 
I have since discovered this was a curious trait in his character. 
He was brave to rashness, and had a great love of being depen¬ 
dent on his own muscles and the sheer power and weight of his 
frame. Rarely would he condescend to use a knife or pistols, and 
to this day there are legends current at the Cape about Jan Van 
Wyk which if I were to retail might with some reason gain for 
me the title of a consummate liar. This, by the way, even as we 
were on our way. 

The litter moved forward, and we perforce followed, passing 
through the inner gate, where were sights sufficient to turn a 
stout stomach, and which I was glad Cira did not witness, for she 
kept her eyes covered, and was led by old Maquita and one of 
the guard. We circled the fence and passed him who hung 
thereon by the hollows of his knees; we emerged at the outer 
gate, marching beneath the tusks of the elephant. Then, to the 
sound of drums and cow-horns, hastily gathered from the outer 
huts, we took our way up the slope towards the high barrier of 
cliff which descended to the great swamp, and faced the lonely 
land which stretched to the south. 

I was too dazed to think, too wearied mentally to worry about 
the future, and I trudged onwards with some vague thoughts 
as to Corkran and Cira, and no clear idea of what might be 
required of me. 

At length we reached a spot where were many stones and rocks 
full of those glittering specks of which I have made mention, 
and covered with patches of the yellow lichen. Amongst these 
we wound and emerged on a remarkable locality, a broad stretch 
of level sward surrounded on three sides by great blocks and 
irregular pillars and heaped-up masses of broken rock, which I 
could swear had at one time been fashioned and reared by a 
people skilled in masonry. Be that or not as it may, this open 


4 °7 


The King’s Decree 

site had, as I have said, three sides ; but it lacked a fourth, for the 
fourth was the naked cliff edge, a line of scattered stones and 
long grass, abrupt and sharp. One looked out upon space, upon 
an immensity of air, and afar off rose the hill ridges which 
bounded the other margin of the morass, and behind them a 
multitude of mountain-tops, ridged or rounded. In one place, 
through a gap in the surrounding rock, I could also see one of 
the lateral boundaries of the swamp, and noted it was fashioned 
like the knuckles of some gigantic hand, and that between two 
of these elevations was a streak of white marking where a high 
waterfall descended to feed the marshy waste. 

I was not permitted to go near the edge, but knew that far 
below there swirled, night and morning, those clinging vapour 
masses which an eternity ago, as it seemed, had parted at the 
sun’s kiss to let us view the false glitter that had lured us to 
this place of savagery and woe. Instinctively I knew the 
meaning of this rock-begirt space, with the level grass stretch 
and the verge leading to thin air, and I half guessed why we had 
been led thither. 

It was the spot of execution. It, or rather the cliff base far 
below it, might have been named Golgotha, or the place of 
a skull. 

I was right. In after days I learned that here justice had its 
sway and punishment was awarded, and that the bodies of the 
slain were hurled straightway to the vultures or oblivion over the 
beetling crags which faced the south. 

Melinda, however, with that cunning which distinguished him, 
had ordained another spectacle than that of a mere butchery of 
defenceless men. He had quelled the last embers of the rebellion 
by announcing a spectacle calculated to furnish his savage retainers 
with all they sought and gloried in. The place was more or less 
of a natural amphitheatre, and the king had designed a show of 
gladiators, a combat on whose issue was staked the succession to 
his throne and the hand of Cira, his granddaughter. Such was 
the amazing resolve which had been hatched within his crafty 
brain. Jacob Little had gained the admiration of the soldiery by 
his deeds of prowess ; the Dutchman had got himself feared and 


408 The Golden Kingdom 

hated, and had even lost favour with the king, owing to the heavy 
slaughter Corkran had inflicted in the efforts made to kill or 
capture him. The trophy—a bloodless one—was not enough to 
satisfy Melinda, although it had well-nigh satisfied me. Moreover, 
the king was very old, and his strength was failing ; he desired a 
successor, as he had once done before—ay, and a husband and 
protector for the fair maid whom he loved in his own way. He 
had promised her to Jan Van Wyk; but when he saw a way to 
secure peace and gratify his people, and perhaps also to satisfy 
his own craving after excitement and to quicken his feebly 
coursing blood, he set his promise aside and devised another 
expedient. 

There were two white men who alone were in his opinion fit to 
mate with the white maid. “ Good,” said he; they should do 
battle for her and for his own throne. 

You ask, worthy reader, how he explained the matter to us? 
He did so by Cira herselt. It was the refinement of cruelty to 
make the girl deliver such a message; but the man was a savage 
at heart, brutalised by his years of slave-trading in the wilderness, 
and lost to those refinements which civilisation and a Christian 
faith have imposed on Europeans. The whole situation was 
peculiar in the extreme ; but I was pained exceedingly for Cira, 
who at first refused to say aught, and then only announced part 
of the decree, but because Jan Van Wyk understood English and 
had guessed the king’s wishes, was forced to tell all. She could 
scarce find words to do so, and great was her shame and confusion, 
so that I would have joyed to fight the Dutchman myself, even 
though he would speedily have mastered me. My own fate was 
not announced; but I dreaded the worst, and especially if Jacob 
were overcome. 

Stranger still were the terms of the combat. The men were to 
fight as they were, without weapons, trusting solely to their thews 
and sinews and the stoutness of their hearts. It was curious to 
see how they received this decree. The Dutchman could not 
conceal a look of satisfaction, and his grey eyes twinkled with the 
anticipation of a coming triumph. He had no qualms as to his 
own prowess, that was evident; and so cool and calm and self- 


The King’s Decree 409 

assured was his demeanour that I was much impressed, and felt 
uneasy as to Jacob. 

That worthy mortal was in an ecstasy. His great desire on 
earth was gratified, for he was about to pit his strength against 
a man who was at least his equal in bulk and weight and mighti¬ 
ness of muscle. A broad smile broke out upon his face, which 
wrinkled till his eyes vanished ; and he blinked genially on the 
king and heaved a sigh of huge content. He was like a child 
which has been promised a new toy or a comfit, and at last sees it 
at hand. That he was not certain of the result I knew full well. 
Time and again he had declared to me that he feared Jan Van 
Wyk was more than a match for him, and the thought had been 
a source of much worry to his simple brain. Now he had an 
opportunity of confirming or confuting his uncertainty, and I had 
not seen him so pleased or like his old self since the day he 
mastered Squire Pumphret’s stallion in the smithy of Bishop- 
Solingford. For all that his honesty forced him to speak. 

“Tell the king,” said he to the Dutchman, “that I have no 
wish to rule and no fancy for any maid, but that I will fight you 
for the love of it.” 

Van Wyk smiled till I saw those strong white teeth, the sight of 
which had chilled me on the Kittiwake. 

“ You have a great heart, Meinheer, though your name belies 
your body,” said he. “But see, we will not tell the king. I also 
will put aside the thought of gain, and fight you for the love of it, 
and there is my hand upon the bargain.” 

“Art a worthy fellow, after all,” cried Jacob, and reached out 
his palm; but I had my own doubts, fearing that the Dutchman 
lied, and that this was but a cunning way of overcoming any 
ill-will Jacob might have towards him, and so weakening the 
intensity of his resolve to be the victor. 

Well did Van Wyk know the influence of the mind over the 
muscle. Perchance I was uncharitable, for the Dutchman, like all 
his race, had good qualities—to wit, determination, courage of a 
sort, no love of luxury, and a delight in the more manly virtues 
and in adventurous exploits. Yet was he cunning, ruthless, with 
a cool pride which was perhaps justified in his case, and as 


410 


The Golden Kingdom 


careless of a lie or a theft as he was of his personal safety. But 
above everything else he was of a magnificent physique. Both 
men stripped to the waist, the sun being none too hot at this 
altitude, and I saw the fulfilment of the promise his lean and 
starved frame had given aboard the Kittiwake. He was thin now, 
but it was the hard leanness of a tried and trained body. His 
massive frame was closely knit, his muscles swelled out upon his 
bones, and from his ribs stood forth in cords like huge outspread 
fingers. I noted especially the great smooth spread of his shoulder 
muscle as it overlapped the joint and was tucked away amongst 
its fellows, where it joined the bone. I remarked the curving 
breadth and the depth of his enormous chest. His back was 
heaped with firm flesh masses, and he was exceeding hairy— 
a sign, I take it, of undoubted strength. Only in the legs did he 
show any symptom of weakness, and that only by comparison. 
The calves thereof scarcely filled the eye as did the rest of him; 
and yet those muscles I knew, from the condition of my own, 
must be as tough as whipcord. 

I turned to Jacob, and at the first glance he made a more 
perfect picture of rugged power. His skin was smoother and 
whiter than the Dutchman’s, but his muscles showed to better 
advantage, and were in more evident knots and mounds. His 
bones were also huge, his back even broader than that of his 
antagonist; but, surveying him critically, I had most sadly to 
confess he was not so well built a man. True, his arms were 
immense. Developed to their utmost by his trade, they were 
such limbs as might have graced a Hercules—a mass of ridged 
fibres and irregular swellings where certain portions stood out 
tense beneath the skin. As is the way with Englishmen, his legs 
were also great, and he stood firmly upon them; but his whole 
frame was loosely hung together, his shoulder girdles were pro¬ 
minent, his neck a trifle long, though very sinewy. He lacked 
the Dutchman’s compactness, was more angular and bony, and 
was not so well proportioned. For the rest, there was nothing 
between them in height, though the Dutchman appeared to be 
the heavier; but while Jacob, with his white hair and round, 
good-humoured face and blinking lids, looked like an overgrown 


The King’s Decree 411 

boy, Jan Van Wyk, bearded like the Pard, with brown and lined 
visage, keen grey eyes, and long dark hair, resembled some 
warrior of the Goths. One thought consoled me : Jacob had 
youth on his side, and less to lose, and the fine fighting-spirit of 
our island race. Another troubled me greatly : the smith would 
be sorely hampered by his defective vision, for the day was bright 
and clear. 

“ Have a care, lad! ” I cried out anxiously; but my voice 
angered the king, and at his command a spearman—one of two 
who guarded me closely—struck me on the mouth, so that I 
perceived I was to have no say in this encounter. 

Jacob was too excited and absorbed to heed me, nor did I 
then appreciate the light of a great resolve which came into 
his face. 

A murmur of surprise and admiration went up from the spec¬ 
tators as they feasted their eyes on two such mighty specimens of 
humanity; and then they took up their places amongst the surround¬ 
ing rocks, the past forgotten, oblivious of everything but the 
approaching contest. A ring of soldiers armed with shields and 
spears interposed between them and the central figures in this 
singular and impressive spectacle. 

Melinda, whose chair had been set down within the arena, 
leaned forward eagerly and scanned the combatants. Then, 
chuckling to himself, he gave the signal to begin; and all the 
time Cira sat beside him, her face buried in her hands. 

“ I seek a man stronger than myself.” I recalled Jacob’s words 
of long ago, and prayed that he might not have found what he 
had so eagerly desired only to his own undoing; and then with 
bated breath I fixed my eyes on the green and level spread of dry 
and grassy ground and on the figures of the fighters. There was 
plenty of room for them to move about, nor was any restriction 
placed upon the methods to be employed. They were there as 
God had made them, and one had to master the other as best he 
could and with those weapons wherewith Nature had endowed him. 


CHAPTER XXXIV 
THE TRIAL BY COMBAT 

It was Jan Van Wyk who opened the attack. Drawing back and 
crouching a little, he hurled himself at the smith, seeking to upset 
him or to close with him. He received an unexpected rebuff, 
and found there are other modes of personal warfare than mere 
wrestling. 

Jacob had been the youngest of seven, and thus it was no 
wonder he had learned to use his fists, especially when one con¬ 
siders their size and weight. His back was to the sun, and he 
saw the Dutchman coming. As a result his left arm shot out 
from the shoulder, and his knuckles took Van Wyk fairly on the 
forehead with a crack like that of an exploding pistol. It was 
a blow sufficient to fell an ox, and the great Dutchman went 
staggering backwards, his arms outstretched before him, his body 
bent, his legs giving way at the knees. 

“On to him, Jacob!” I yelled, but the haft of a spear was 
thrust into my mouth and drew blood. Then I was gagged, and 
so remained a mute witness of all that passed. 

To my dismay the smith did not follow up his advantage, but 
let Van Wyk recover. It is well to be chivalrous, no doubt, but 
too much depended on the issue in this case for one adversary to 
give the least chance to the other. I groaned as I saw the 
Dutchman gather himself together or ever the shout which the 
smith’s blow elicited from the bystanders had died away. 

I read no gratitude for Jacob’s clemency in Van Wyk’s eyes. 
The man’s rage was roused, but he saw the need of caution. He 


412 


The Trial by Combat 413 

rose slowly, and got back his breath the while he caressed his 
beard and measured his antagonist with eyes into which had come 
a steely glitter. The smith, as was his way, smiled genially, and 
kept upon his guard as though inviting a fresh onset. Then Van 
Wyk, keeping well out of reach, began to circle round him. Here 
again he had reckoned without his host. He did not know that 
in the English method there is attack as well as defence. Thus 
he took no precautions to protect his face, and walked round his 
opponent, waiting for a chance to get at close grips. Instead of 
finding it, he received another tremendous buffet, this time on the 
jaw. The smith, seizing his opportunity, sprang at him and 
delivered a second crashing stroke, which drove the Dutchman 
sideways and brought blood streaming from his mouth, and 
caused him to spit and choke. 

Again Jacob did not drive home his advantage; but Van Wyk 
had learned his lesson. 

The dusky crowd were speechless with astonishment at this 
exhibition of defence and attack, and no noise greeted the smith’s 
effort, save a fierce snarl of pain and wrath which came from his 
enemy’s throat. 

So far Van Wyk had borne the Englishman no hatred. Now 
he was consumed with passion, and I saw with feelings of dread 
that this would be a combat d Foutrance —that one or other of 
these men must die. Jacob would be forced in his own interests 
to slay the Dutchman, if, indeed, the Dutchman, grown cool and 
wary, did not succeed in killing him. 

Again I cursed the folly of my friend and comrade in not 
making certain of his foe thus early. A few such blows would 
effectually cripple even a giant like Van Wyk. Either of them 
would have shattered the bones of any ordinary man. As it 
was, I could not be certain that his lower jaw had not sustained 
a fracture. 

Once more Jacob stood on guard, and once more the Dutch¬ 
man wandered round him; but now he held his clenched hands 
before his face—awkwardly, it is true, but in such a way that he 
could not be taken by surprise. Round he went, and ever Jacob 
kept his front to him. And then I saw Van Wyk’s plan. He was 


4H 


The Golden Kingdom 

trying to get Jacob to face the westering sun, so that his eyes 
might be dazzled. I tried to get free from the gag, so that I 
might warn my friend, but was held fast by my guards, and could 
only stare with straining eyes and fear clutching at my heart. 

Presently it was even as the Dutchman wished, and the smith 
found himself blinded by the sudden glare, and began to peer 
about him uneasily. Then Van Wyk made his rush. Jacob, 
however, was no fool in such matters, and, expecting some such 
ruse, leaped a little to the side and thrust out a leg. His opponent 
drove full against it, tripped upon it, and shot onwards a sprawling 
mass. In a moment the smith whirled about and aimed a blow 
at the back of his head. It is my belief it would have ended the 
fight had it caught Van Wyk behind the ear; but unhappily Jacob 
slipped, his fist struck out into the air, and he also fell even as the 
spectators roared with laughter. That laughter ceased suddenly, 
for the next moment the two men were locked in each other’s 
embrace. Then began a fearful struggle for the mastery. 

By mutual consent, as it seemed, each gained his feet, and then 
each tightened his hold, the Dutchman with a hoarse grunt of 
satisfaction. 

There was no wrestlers’ grip. It was a case of catch as catch 
can; and while Van Wyk had Jacob by the throat with one hand 
and one arm thrown round his neck, the smith had both his arms 
about his assailant’s body, and was hugging him to himself. The 
Dutchman squeezed and Jacob squeezed, and the latter had the 
purchase. Feeling himself choking, he put out all his force and 
swung Van Wyk clean off his legs. The Dutchman suddenly 
shifted his grasp, regained his footing, and closed yet more closely. 
It was to me a relief to see Jacob’s throat free ; but Van Wyk had 
now got one arm round his body, while still holding his head down 
by that which circled his neck. 

Each strove desperately, and when I got a glimpse of the 
smith’s face I saw that at last he was fully alive to his peril. His 
geniality was gone ; he was hot and flushed and angry, for he must 
have suffered severe pain when Van Wyk compressed his windpipe. 
He tried to wrench himself free, so that he might strike the 
Dutchman as before; and had he succeeded, I warrant there would 


The Trial by Combat 415 

have been no hesitation on his part in pressing home the least 
advantage. He tried, I say, and failed. Strong though he was, 
the Dutchman was stronger, and held him as though in a vice. 

The minutes passed, and still this Titanic encounter continued. 

I doubt if the smith had ever bargained for such a contest, without 
rules or any set plan or any kind of method. At first he seemed 
scarcely to understand ; and then, as it slowly dawned upon him 
that Van Wyk would stop at nothing in his endeavours, and was 
striving to break his neck, and had tried to take him by surprise, 
he changed his tactics and fought him on his own lines, asking 
nothing, giving nothing save his whole mind and body to the task 
he had in hand. 

Thereafter I scarce know what happened for a space. These 
two huge men tore and worried at each other, and their muscles 
quivered and grew tense. They heaved and strained and swayed ; 
they swung this way and that, and staggered hither and thither, 
and the sweat poured from them, and there was a smear of red 
upon their skins. Once they fell apart, only to grapple again 
instantly without thought or sense, blind with rage, mad with the 
lust of battle, furious with each other’s stubbornness and strength. 
At times they wrestled, at times they struck with clenched fists. 
I saw Jacob deliver one buffet which broke Van Wyk’s nose and 
bathed his face crimson ; I heard a bone snap in Jacob’s chest. 

I cannot write of it, I cannot bear even to think of it. To the 
savages about it was a glorious sport—to them and to the brutalised 
Portuguese who had had the ordering of it. But Cira was wholly 
overcome, and I myself sickened and longed that it might end 
at any cost—ay, even at the expense of Jacob’s life. And at last it 
seemed as though this would be the case. For a full half-hour 
they had been grappling on the ground, rolling over and over, when 
suddenly I noticed that Van Wyk was uppermost, and was about 
to slay the smith, who, apparently exhausted, released his hold and 
lay motionless, save for the heaving of his chest and a flicker in his 
closed eyelids. 

Further, I perceived they were not far from the edge of the 
precipice, and, from what I had seen, it seemed as though Jacob 
had latterly been forcing the fight in that direction. The Dutch- 


The Goiden Kingdom 


416 

man knelt upon the smith’s body, and reared and steadied himself 
for a final effort, when from Jacob there burst forth a cry. 

“ It is the only way ! ” he shouted, with a voice which showed 
how spent he was. “ Doctor Harry, it is the only way! ” 

Then in a moment he raised himself partly from the ground, 
flung his arms about Van Wyk, and, heedless of a blow which 
fell upon his back, started rolling again, now the Dutchman 
uppermost, anon himself. 

A shrill cry broke from the king, and four spearmen bounded 
forward ; but they were too late. 

A moment the struggling mass was balanced on the verge, and 
I saw a hairy arm shoot out and a great hand clutch convulsively 
at a tuft of grass which yielded at the roots; then over they plunged, 
nor was there ever a sound till, after a space, there came from 
afar such a noise as is made by a heavy stone dropping upon the 
surface of a still water in a well of great depth. 

Then, blind fool that I had been, I understood, and knew that 
Jacob had sacrificed himself for me. He had seen that I was 
taken with the maid, and he knew that she would be forced to 
wed him did he triumph. He knew also that my life would be 
worth little did he perish and the Dutchman survive. Thus he 
had slain himself and Van Wyk at the selfsame time. So, at 
least, I believed, and ever must believe, and must ever sorrow 
for my friend—simple, trusting, and very lovable, a veritable son 
of Anak, and yet of an abiding good-nature and geniality. It 
may be I have scarce done him justice, nor fully pictured his 
traits and peculiarities; but I have done my best, and have not 
the heart to write more concerning him when I think of how 
he died. 

At the time, however, nothing could hold me. I broke from 
my guard, heedless of a spear-thrust in the side. I sprang down 
the rocks, across the space where the grass was trampled and 
bruised, and so to the cliff edge, which I reached even before the 
spearmen who had darted forward to prevent the tragedy. 

Flinging myself down, I looked over at the dizzy height, full 
two thousand feet of rugged crag sinking to the confines of the 
swamp. My head swam dizzily, my flank pained me, and I was 


The Trial by Combat 417 

losing blood. Therefore, for a moment, I could not believe 1 
really saw that which I did see. Straight below me the cliff-face 
sank unbroken to the foot of the abyss, save for a few stunted 
bushes which clung to it, and little knobs and projections, 
whereon birds nested, and which were spotted with their dung. 
There was no sign of those who had rolled over the verge and 
gone sweeping downwards to their doom—there was no sign of 
them, I say, but somewhat to the side a narrow ledge projected 
into thin air, and on the ledge was the figure of a man. 

He was three hundred feet below me, and, like me, he was look¬ 
ing toward the place where Jacob and Van Wyk must have landed 
—some noisome pool of the great morass. His head was bent, and 
what was very remarkable was that though he stood on the very 
margin of the ledge, yet was he able to gaze at the abyss below him 
without having hold of anything to steady him. This alone would 
have convinced me as to his identity had I needed any proof, but 
none was wanted. Dwarfed though the figure was by the distance, 
I made out a musket slung across its back, and I knew the broad, 
square build of it; and I knew that Van Wyk had lied, and that 
though I had lost one comrade, I had found another. 

I tore away the gag in a frenzy of haste—my lips bleeding, my 
teeth tingling; but it mattered not. I clapped my hands on either 
side of my mouth, and— 

“ Corkran ! ” I shouted. “ Corkran ! ” 

He heard, and while I was even cursing my folly in thus 
startling him when in so precarious a position, he turned about, 
and looked up at me and waved a hand. Then, without a 
moment’s hesitation, he sprang at the cliff-face and began the 
ascent. Nothing but a monkey or a sailor could have accom¬ 
plished such a task; but I watched him as he crawled upwards 
like a fly, never pausing, though seeming to hang at times by 
his very finger-nails. 

I was not long given a chance of witnessing this feat, for the 
spearmen seized me and dragged me backwards. Even then I 
noted with satisfaction that not one of them took a survey as 
I had done. They knew the place, and they knew that no one 
could pass the edge and live ; and, moreover, they had the king’s 

27 


418 The Golden Kingdom 

mandate to obey. Melinda was on his feet, with one arm out¬ 
stretched and a forefinger pointing at me. His features still bore 
traces of the excitement into which the contest had thrown him. 
There was a dew of sweat on his forehead, his eyes sparkled, his 
thin lips were all a-quiver and tremulous. Holding on to one of 
the chair-poles, he craned his long body forward and issued his 
command. 

What it was I did not doubt. He had no love of me. He 
remembered those words of mine which had thrown him into 
a fit, and he was afraid. So were those who held me, for the 
story of my deed had gone abroad, and I was looked on as 
a wizard; while the hunters had reason to dread me, also, as 
one who slew from afar. I alone knew how little cause they 
had to fear me, for every moment I was growing weaker. I had 
passed through too much in too short a space, and my wound 
had been but the finishing touch. Cira could not plead for me. 
The old woman Maquita had led her away weeping and sore 
distressed, and she was somewhere out of sight amongst the pile 
of rocks and boulders. 

It was apparent I must die, unless, indeed, Corkran brought 
me succour. I was forced down upon my knees; but Gozo 
threw himself, wounded as he was, before the king, and I knew 
he begged for my life. The least delay was welcome, even 
though, now that Jacob Little was gone, I cared not so greatly for 
existence. Yet none in health, not even the most bereaved, not 
even the most saintly, the most assured of Paradise, craves for 
his dissolution. There is a dread of the unknown, however 
strong be faith,—a clinging to what is seen and understood ; and 
so I struggled feebly with my executioners, and strove to gain 
time. Gozo was spurned by the king’s foot, and, finding all 
was hopeless, he rose and came towards me. 

‘ Kulolo! ” said he, and, reaching up both hands, laid them 
on my head. I confess I was touched by his solicitude. The 
bystanders grew clamorous, some crying for the end, others, 
I have been told, protesting vehemently. In some the appetite 
for blood had but been whetted ; in others it was already satiated. 
Yet was there more to be spilt ere that eventful day was 


The Trial by Combat 419 

done, for suddenly there cropped up above the grass stems on the 
cliff-edge, there peered over the verge of the precipice, the most 
extraordinary of visages. Brown, as though stained by walnut- 
juice, scarred deeply upon the temple, with fierce black eyes, with 
a great beak of a nose, with a thin slit of a mouth, with a straggle of 
grey beard, and with an ear lacking on the right side, it rose into 
view, clear cut against the declining light of day. Nor was 
this all. Where there should have been hair, or at least baldness, 
or at least a head-covering, there was none. A mottled, parch¬ 
ment-like vault, with a tangle of twisted cords upon it, surmounted 
this keen and mocking face, from the mouth of which came a 
loud and hearty greeting. 

A great silence fell, and the people stared awestruck at this 
apparition, no doubt believing I had summoned some familiar 
spirit from the depths. A woman wailed feebly, a child whimpered, 
and the spearmen loosed their hold on me. 

“ Ho, ho, Doctor Harry! ” came the hail. “ Split me! if old 
Nick be not here in the nick of time!” 

With that Corkran reared himself upon his arms, got a knee 
planted on solid ground, and in a second was upon his feet. 

A shrill cry went up from the king, who snatched a spear from 
one of his guards; but it was his last utterance and his last action. 
In a trice Corkran’s musket was unslung and at his shoulder, his 
head dropped to the stock, his eye glanced along the barrel, and 
his finger tightened on the trigger. The flash as the hammer 
fell was the last thing I saw, the report the last I heard, for, 
overcome by conflicting emotions, weakened by loss of blood, and 
feeling that at length things were under the control of one 
who could control them, I let my senses leave me—my latest 
thought, as far as I can remember, being that after many a 
long year Nicholas Corkran had fulfilled his promise, and carried 
out the vengeance of Luis da Cardoso, the Portuguese. 




CHAPTER XXXV 
VAARWELl 

My tale, I take it, is at an end. It has been a recounting of the 
perilous and peculiar travels of three men, and, as I have shown, 
one of them parted company and set forth on another journey 
from which there is no return. Therefore is it fitting to conclude. 
It has been a tale of a quest for gold and the unknown by three 
good comrades, and one has indeed discovered the latter ; there¬ 
fore why should I write further of what happened ? It has been 
a story of manifold adventurings safely accomplished; but we 
have reached one in which a dire calamity befell. How, then, can 
I have the heart to continue this, my narrative ? 

Yet I will try, and that briefly, for a broken tag of a tale is not 
seemly; and when for some there is happiness in store, it is fitting 
that such should be mentioned as an offset to the troubles and 
sorrows of this our life on earth. 

Again, some matters may not yet be plain and clear to the 
duller of my readers, if any such there be; and I would not 
have them imagine me a liar who must perforce leave gaps 
because he cannot fill them. 

Learn, then, that I lay long ill; but when, most mercifully 
spared, I crept back to life and sense, I found a great change in 
the savage community hidden away in the African wilderness. 
Melinda was dead, shot by Corkran as he was about to slay me 
with his own nand ; and in his stead there ruled my old man of 
the sea, who, with that surprising power of his in grasping a 
situation, had done the right thing at the right time. He had 
found his wig lying on the king’s seat, where Melinda had left it. 


420 


Vaarwel! 


421 


To the absolute astonishment and admiration of the natives, he 
had at once assumed his own hair, and thereby, in their eyes, 
completed a miracle. True, it sounds ludicrous in the extreme ; 
and, as told by Corkran, made me laugh till my wound burst forth 
afresh, and till he was driven from the room by Cira, who had 
tended me with a care to which I owed my recovery. Yet, after 
all, the thing was natural enough, as the unbiassed must confess. 
There are those who sneer at aught that is improbable and 
beyond their ken. Let them fare foreign, and woo adventures, 
and have experiences showered upon them, and they will return 
wiser—if they return at all. 

Further, the old rip discovered that Gozo understood Portu¬ 
guese, and—for he had a wonderful way with savage folk—the 
head-man was speedily his staunch ally. The soldiers who had 
been with Jan Van Wyk recognised that this was the strange 
white man who had defied them and committed such havoc in 
their ranks. They dreaded him accordingly, and, like the rest, 
who were utterly bewildered and amazed and full of admiration, 
promptly paid him homage. He had made one enemy, however, 
for Cira could not forgive him for having killed the king. Poor 
maid! The old villain was her sole relative on earth, and, though 
he merited little at her hands, she was true-hearted, and took a 
violent dislike to Captain Nicholas. 

That worthy had speedily taken over the direction of affairs ; 
had buried the dead, including Melinda; had sent out an 
expedition to recover the bodies of Jacob and the Dutchman, but 
without avail; had rendered himself popular by his distribution of 
the wives of those who had fallen in battle; and had been mightily 
disgusted to find a kingdom of gold existed only in his imagination 
and in the imaginations of those more credulous than himself. 

“Yet am I minded to stay, Doctor Harry/- said he. “The 
trade in slaves is good, as is that in ivory and hides; and I have 
a fancy to be a ruler for a brief space, even in such a forsaken 
spot as this Godwana. Like our friend Van Wyk, of whom you 
have told me, I have not come here for nothing.” 

“So it would seem,” said I. “You have been the cause of a 
few deaths.”* 


422 


The Golden Kingdom 

“ And of your life being saved, my lad.” 

“ That,” I replied, “ I am willing to admit; yet I owe much 
also to the maid.” 

“ A murrain on her! ” said he. “ You had best away and 
wed her.” 

I laughed feebly, and then grew grave. 

“ It were scarce just,” I protested. “ She has known scarce 
any besides me, and I would not take an unfair advantage.” 

“ Stap my vitals ! ” cried Corkran, “ were it not that you have 
a certain decency and steadfastness about you, Doctor Henry 
Mortimer, you would be the most priggish of prigs. Range along¬ 
side, my lad, ere ever another craft can summon her, for this 
wearing and tacking is but a poor game.” 

“ Nay, nay,” said I, too weak to be offended at his unmerited re¬ 
mark, “you do not understand, and, moreover, she has no surname!” 

“ Now flay me for a land lubber! ” he cried, chuckling till his 
beard shook. “ And can you not give her one, most sapient of 
physicians ? Ho, ho! my cock, I warrant she will be ready 
enough—though what she sees in you passes my humble com¬ 
prehension.” 

“ Tell me,” said I, none too pleased at the turn the conversation 
had taken, “how you fared yourself?” 

“ A degree better,” said he, “ than when I had to look after two 
men as ignorant as babes. Yet,” he added, seeing I was pained, “ I 
allow poor Jacob was a worthy fellow, and I have grieved also at 
his loss; but such a man would have found it hard to worry through 
life.” 

“ Mayhap,” I answered—“ mayhap,” and for a time was silent. 

Then Corkran told me all: how he had heard my warning shout, 
and, approaching carefully, had slain all six spearmen with his 
arrows, after he had taken up a good position amongst the rocks, 
whence they had tried in vain to dislodge him. Further, he 
recounted the whole of his experiences with Van Wyk, whom 
he had led a pretty dance. He had been forced, however, to seek 
shelter high up the cliff in a cavern, which opened off the ledge on 
which I had seen him, and where he was in danger of starvation. 
In the ascent he had lost his wig, and the Dutchman, securing 


Vaarwel! 


423 

the trophy, and finding he could not attack with any prospect of 
success, and fearing what might happen in his absence, had drawn 
off his forces, after Corkran had accounted for half of them, 
though he had been injured by a throwing-spear. 

It was a stirring recital he gave me, but too lengthy to transcribe 
in full, and beside the mark. His wound had healed sufficiently 
to permit of his scaling the cliff to the summit; but till then he had 
lain hid, subsisting on certain rock conies which abound in these 
parts. He had seen Jacob and the Dutchman fall, and had been 
at a loss to understand what was occurring, but had never hesitated 
to respond to my summons. 

In every way it was a remarkable coincidence, but I set it down 
without comment, and with much thankfulness, and a belief that 
I was spared to do some good in life. 

Yet was there further trouble, for it was the people’s wish that 
Cira should wed their new ruler,—the more so that they believed 
me also to be dead, for Corkran had kept the knowledge of my 
illness and recovery a secret. Gozo was our friend, though he 
had transferred his allegiance to Corkran; and thus it befell 
eventually that, as I could not approve this traffic in slaves, and 
hankered after civilisation, and longed to take Cira with me, she 
being ready to come, I, at last, having sufficiently recovered, 
parted from Nicholas Corkran, yet not without regret. He sent 
us away privily in charge of Gozo and a band of trusty spearmen, 
and we travelled by night, crossing the ridge to the north, and de¬ 
scending into the great game valley where her father had lost his life. 

We travelled by easy stages through a very wild and wonderful 
and well-watered country, till, after many hardships and the death 
of Maquita,—a sore grief to the maid,—we reached the settlement 
of the Portuguese, whose boundless curiosity we were hard put to 
it to satisfy. 

This is no love tale, so it boots not to tell of what we said and 
how we said it and a multitude of other matters. We were wed 
in due course, took ship from the Bay de la Goa, and touched at 
Bubolongo. There I recovered the money we had obtained for 
the ketch, and which had lain safely buried. Cira hated the sea, 
was greatly bewildered with many novelties, and, being brought 


424 The Golden Kingdom 

near death by illness, we quitted the ship at the Cape, and there 
have I settled, finding I was not recognised as the comrade of 
that man who had created so great an uproar. 

I made myself known to the Scotch community, who, mindful 
of their promise, received me kindly; and my services being 
required by the governor during an outbreak of the scurvy, I 
decided to remain for the nonce, the climate being indeed magni¬ 
ficent, and a livelihood most easy to obtain; while, as Corkran 
once remarked, the Dutch are a very decent folk, though, like 
others, they have their faults. 

I had no ties in England; but to the vicar I wrote, and from him 
have had several letters, while he has sent me my precious books 
and much news, of interest only to myself, though I may state the 
fact that Abel Pike, for the time being, cheated the devil of his due. 

Concerning that amazing man Corkran the Coxswain, I have 
nothing more to tell. Strange indeed was his influence upon my 
life, and at times I can scarce credit the reality of all I passed 
through in his cheerful and stimulating and peculiar company. 
Nor do I despair of again seeing him. To him the sea air was as 
the breath of life, and I doubt not but that he will tire of his new 
role and the doubtful glory of his position. We were both much 
moved at parting, for he had for me a warm corner in his seared 
and flinty heart, and at the least I had stood by him in his 
extremity. Thus, some day, I look to find him come a-sailing 
into Table Bay, and hope to spin a fresh yarn with him, and 
listen to his surprising manner of speech, and be spellbound by 
his singing, as of yore. He has still, as far as I know, his bauble 
and his chart, of which I made a careful copy, for we found the 
stone in the hut where I battled with the Dutchman for life itself. 

It led us on a false quest, and was the occasion of this strangest 
of strange narratives; yet do I rest well content—for if Corkran has 
gained a kingdom, it is not one of gold, while I am the proud 
possessor of a princess whom I know, and that right verily, to be 
more precious than the precious metal. 


FINIS. 


L. C. Page and Company's 
Announcement List 
of New Fiction 

The Kindred of the Wild ; A Book of Animal 
Life. By Charles G. D Roberts, author of “ The 
Heart of the Ancient Wood,” “ A Sister to Evangeline,” 
etc. Illustrated with many full-page drawings of animal 
life by Charles Livingston Bull. 

Large i2mo, cloth, gilt top ..... $2.00 

Mr. Roberts’s latest work of fiction makes a most interest¬ 
ing addition to the slender stock of nature classics. He has 
studied with close and unwearied interest the lives of the great 
eagle, lord of the air, the panther that rules on the Upsal- 
quitch, the lucifee, haunter of the pine gloom, Kehonka the 
wild goose, and all the furred and feathered creatures of the 
wilderness and the hunted trails. In view of the great and 
growing interest in the study of nature, seen through the eyes 
of close observers and trained recorders like Mr. Roberts, 
and reported under the guise of fiction, this will be a book of 
great popular interest. 

The Mystery of Murray Davenport. By 

Robert Neilson Stephens, author of “ Captain Raven- 
shaw,” “ Philip Winwood,” etc. 

Library i2mo, cloth, gilt top, illustrated . . . $1.50 

His latest novel is a new departure for Mr. Stephens, and 
his greatest effort as well. Turning from past days and dis¬ 
tant scenes, the themes of his previous successes, he has 
taken up American life of modern days for his serious choice 
as a field for romance. It is said that this is the most vital 
and absorbing of all Mr. Stephens’s novels. It is certain, at 
any rate, that the hundreds of thousands of his readers will 
look forward with pleasure, as well as some degree of curi¬ 
osity, to his latest work. 


2 


Z. C. PAGE AND COMPANY'S 


Barbara Ladd, a novel of early colonial 
Days. By Charles G. D. Roberts, author of “ The 
Heart of the Ancient Wood,” “A Sister to Evangeline,” 
etc. 

Library 12mo, cloth, gilt top, illustrated . . . $1.50 

Stephen Holton: a story of life as it is in 
Town and Country. By Charles Felton Pidgin, 
author of “ Quincy Adams Sawyer ” and “ Blennerhassett.” 
Library i2mo, cloth, gilt top, illustrated . . . $1.50 

In “ Stephen Holton ” the author of “ Quincy Adams 
Sawyer,” which has been called “ the best New England story 
ever written,” has returned to the field of his first success — 
the annals of homely modern life. The hundreds of thousands 
who read that widely noticed book are doubtless anticipating 
the author’s second story of New England life. 

Abroad with the Jimmies. By Lilian bell, 

author of “ The Love Affairs of an Old Maid,” “ The Expa¬ 
triates,” etc. 

Library i2mo, cloth, gilt top, with a portrait frontis¬ 
piece .$1.50 

This book, one of Lilian Bell’s best, is the witty account of 
a journey through Europe, filled with many amusing incidents 
and experiences. Although we are afforded vivid and inter¬ 
esting glimpses of Nordau, Tolstoi, and other personages of 
importance and note, not the least attractive figures in the 
book are those of the engaging Jimmies, the author’s travel¬ 
ling companions. 

Hope Loring. By Lilian Bell, author of “The 
Love Affairs of an Old Maid,” “ The Expatriates,” etc. 
Library i2mo, cloth, gilt top, illustrated . . . $1.50 

The latest and most important novel of this clever writer is 
based upon the experiences of a Southern girl in New York 
society. It is filled with keen and entertaining observation of 
the life of New York society, and will add not a little to the 
deserved reputation already enjoyed by Miss Bell. 




LIST OF NEW FICTION 


3 


The Mate of the Good Ship York. By w. 

Clark Russell, author of “ The Wreck of the Grosvenor,” 
etc., with a frontispiece from a drawing by W. H. Dunton. 
Library i2mo, cloth, gilt top . . . . . $1.50 

W. Clark Russell, past master in his own province, is almost 
the last of the great sea romancers. This, his latest novel, is 
a story filled with the savor of the sea and the venturesome 
spirit of the old hardy merchant service. The story has all 
the vigor and interest that we are wont to look for in Mr. 
Russell’s sea novels, and will be eagerly welcomed by his wide 
circle of admirers. 

Asa Holmes or At the Cross-roads. By 

Annie Fellows-Johnston, author of “The Little Colo¬ 
nel’s Holidays,” etc., with a frontispiece from a drawing 
by Ernest Fosbery. 

Large i6mo, cloth, gilt td£.$1.00 

The many readers of Mrs. Johnston’s charming stories will 
look forward with pleasure to her latest book. “ Asa Holmes ” 
is a sketch of country life and country humor, done with the 
simplicity and grace which mark all of Mrs. Johnston’s work, 
and touched with the sunny wisdom of the cheery old Cross¬ 
roads philosopher, Asa Holmes. 

The Cloistering of Ursula. By Clinton Scol- 

lard, author of “A Man-at-Arms,” etc. Illustrated by 
H. C. Edwards. 

Library i2mo, cloth, gilt top.$1.50 

It is with much pleasure that the publishers are able to an¬ 
nounce another of Mr. Scollard’s delightful Italian romances. 
Italy in the heyday of all her splendid sins and terrible virtues 
is a fascinating field for any romancer, and it is a fascinating 
romance which is here unfolded — a story of deadly feud and 
secret craft, open hatred and hidden love. A strange cloister¬ 
ing is that of the charming Ursula, whose adventures the reader 
follows with breathless interest from the time when, all unwit¬ 
ting, she aids the enemy of her house to escape from the fatal 
banquet, to the time when she finds her claustral refuge in the 
heart of that enemy. 




4 L. C. PAGE AND COMPANY'S 

The Seigneur de Beaufoy. By Hamilton 

Drummond, author of “ The King’s Pawn,” etc. 

Library i2mo, cloth, gilt top, illustrated . . . $1.50 

These adventures of the proud and powerful Seigneur de 
Beaufoy throw a striking side light on the political and social 
condition of France during the time of Charles VII. and his 
crafty son, Louis XI. How Beaufoy ruled his wide domains, 
warred with his neighbors, succored the weak and humbled 
the powerful, opposed priest and abbot, made terms with 
dauphin and king, — all this is set forth with a purity of style 
and a dramatic force that stamp Mr. Drummond as one of the 
leading romancers of the day. 

The Last Word. By Alice MacGowan. Library 
12mo, cloth, gilt top, illustrated .... $1.50 

This brilliant and original novel is one of the notable addi¬ 
tions to the fiction list of the year, in respect both of literary 
quality and of popular appeal. It is bubbling over with life 
and humor, buoyant with youth and courage, picturesque in 
local color, and powerful in the intensity of its emotional 
interest. 


The Prince of the Captivity. By Sydney C. 

Grier, author of “The Warden of the Marches,” “ A 
Crowned Queen,” etc. 

Library i2mo, cloth, gilt top.$1.50 

Mr. Grier’s latest novel, like several of its predecessors, is 
concerned with the interesting field of political intrigue in the 
Balkan states. The remarkable success which Mr. Grier’s 
novels have enjoyed in England makes certain the favorable 
reception on this side of the water of his latest work. 



LIST OF NEW FICTION 


5 


PAGE'S COMMONWEALTH SERIES 

Literary growth in America has been of late years as rapid 
as its material and economical progress. The vast size of the 
country, the climatic and moral conditions of its different parts, 
and the separate political and social elements, have all tended 
to create distinct methods of literary expression in various sec¬ 
tions. In offering from time to time the books in the “ COM¬ 
MONWEALTH SERIES,” we shall select a novel or story 
descriptive of the methods of thought and life of that particu¬ 
lar section of the country which each author represents. The 
elegance of paper, press-work, and binding, and the lavish and 
artistic illustrations, as well as the convenient size, add not a 
little to the attractiveness of the volumes. 

Number 5. (Illinois) The Russells in Chi= 

CcigO. By Emily Wheaton. Illustrated with full-page 
drawings by F. C. Ransom, and numerous reproductions 
from original photographs. 

Cloth, large i6mo, gilt top.$1.25 

This entertaining story is the narrative of the experiences of 
two young people from Boston who take up their residence in 
the wilds by Lake Michigan. The characteristics of life in the 
great Western metropolis, as well as the foibles of the impec¬ 
cable Eastern critic, are touched with a gentle and amusing 
satire, as kindly as it is observant and keen. 

Even without the omen of success afforded in the previous 
numbers of this popular series, it is safe to predict a most 
favorable reception for this charming story. 


Number 6. (New York) Councils of Croesus. 

By Mary Knight Potter, author of “ Love in Art,” etc. 
Cloth, large i6mo, gilt top, illustrated . . . $1.25 

A clever and vivacious story of life in New York society 
circles. 




Selections from 

L. C. Page and Company's 

List of Fiction 


WORKS OF 

ROBERT NEILSON STEPHENS 
Captain Ravenshaw; or, the maid of 

Cheapside. (35th thousand.) A romance of Elizabethan 
London. Illustrations by Howard Pyle and other artists. 
Library i2mo, cloth . . . . . $1.50 

Not since the absorbing adventures of D’Artagnan have we 
had anything so good in the blended vein of romance and 
comedy. The beggar student, the rich goldsmith, the roisterer 
and the rake, the fop and the maid, are all here : foremost 
among them, Captain Ravenshaw himself, soldier of fortune 
and adventurer, who, after escapades of binding interest, 
finally wins a way to fame and to matrimony. The rescue of 
a maid from the designs of an unscrupulous father and rakish 
lord forms the principal and underlying theme, around which 
incidents group themselves with sufficient rapidity to hold one’s 
attention spellbound. 

Philip Winwood. (70th thousand.) A Sketch of 
the Domestic History of an American Captain in the War of 
Independence, embracing events that occurred between and 
during the years 1763 and 1785 in New York and London. 
Written by his Enemy in War, Herbert Russell, Lieutenant 
in the Loyalist Forces. Presented anew by Robert Neil- 
son Stephens. Illustrated by E. W. D. Hamilton. 

Library i2mo, cloth ...... $1.50 

“ One of the most stirring and remarkable romances that have 
been published in a long while, and its episodes, incidents, and 
actions are as interesting and agreeable as they are vivid and 
dramatic.” — Boston Times. 


2 


L. C. PAGE AND COMPANY'S 


An Enemy to the King. (40th thousand.) From 
the “ Recently Discovered Memoirs of the Sieur de la 
Tournoire.” Illustrated by H. De M. Young. 

Library i2mo, cloth.$1.50 

An historical romance of the sixteenth century, describing 
the adventures of a young French nobleman at the Court of 
Henry III., and on the field with Henry of Navarre. 

“ A stirring tale.” — Detroit Free Press. 

“ A royally strong piece of fiction.”— Boston Ideas. 

“ Interesting from the first to the last page.” — Brooklyn Eagle. 

“ Brilliant as a play; it is equally brilliant as a romantic novel.” — 
Philadelphia Press. 

The Continental Dragoon: a romance of 

Philipse Manor House in 1778. (42d thousand.) Illus¬ 
trated by H. C. Edwards. 

Library i2mo, cloth . . . . . . $1.50 

A stirring romance of the Revolution, the scene being laid 
in and around the old Philipse Manor House, near Yonkers, 
which at the time of the story was the central point of the so- 
called “ neutral territory ” between the two armies. 

The Road to Paris: A Story of Adventure. 
(23d thousand.) Illustrated by H. C. Edwards. 

Library i2mo, cloth.$1.50 

An historical romance of the 18th century, being an account 
of the life of an American gentleman adventurer of Jacobite 
ancestry, whose family early settled in the colony of Pennsyl¬ 
vania. 

A Gentleman Player : his adventures on a 
Secret Mission for Queen Elizabeth. (35th thou¬ 
sand.) Illustrated by Frank T. Merrill. 

Library i2mo, cloth . . . . . . $1.50 

“A Gentleman Player” is a romance of the Elizabethan 
period. It relates the story of a young gentleman who, in the 
reign of Elizabeth, falls so low in his fortune that he joins 
Shakespeare’s company of players, and becomes a friend and 
prot^gd of the great poet. 
























































































































